Cafe Liz
Kosher vegetarian recipes from my kitchen in Tel Aviv
Authentic Spanish gazpacho
May 21, 2009 at 1:00 am | Tags: parve, soup, Spanish, tomato, vegan
This is another recipe I learned from my time in Madrid, in Sra. Pilar’s kitchen. Summer was at its peak, the days were regularly 40 degrees Celsius, and she’d keep a big, glass bowl of cool gazpacho in the fridge. We’d put a few ladlefuls in a bowl and eat it on the oilcloth-covered table, with a handful of crunchy mini-breadsticks. Simple food.
The key to good gazpacho is in the tomatoes. They have to be rich, ripe and red; otherwise the soup will have no flavor. That’s another reason that gazpacho suits the summer.
The other key to good gazpacho is that weird device in the photo. It makes the soup smoother after it’s been blended, and takes out bits of peel. (Update: It’s called a food mill, and sometimes a rotary spaetzle maker; my model is similar to this one.) If you don’t have one of these thingys, you’ll have to peel your tomatoes, and you want might to make the whole thing in a food processor, instead of using a hand-held blender.
Sra. Pilar would make a lot of gazpacho, and I’ve cut her recipe in half — hence all the half-vegetables. She also would add a full cup of olive oil. I think that’s a lot, if not entirely unnecessary. I prefer just drizzling some good olive oil on top.
You can find more of my Spanish recipes here.
For about 4 servings:
1 kilogram red, ripe tomatoes
1/2 a green pepper
1/2 an onion
1 garlic clove
1 teaspoon salt
1/2-3/4 cup water
Optional toppings:
good olive oil for drizzling
mini-toasts, crackers or croutons
If you don’t have a nifty strainer device like the one in the photo, start by peeling the tomatoes: Dunk them in boiling water, remove, and peel off the skins.
Quarter the tomatoes, removing the stem bud, and put them in a glass bowl. Slice the onion, garlic and pepper into large chunks and add. Dump in the salt. Blend with a stick blender (or in a food processor). If you’re using a stick blender, start with the tomatoes, since they’re more liquid and once they begin to blend, it’ll be easier to blend the peppers and onions as well.
Put the strainer on top of a large glass bowl, and pour the gazpacho into the strainer. Turn the handle to push the soup through the strainer. Once almost everything has gone through, pour the water into the strainer and give it a few more spins, to get out any remaining soup (you should see a thick layer of vegetable peels in the bottom of the strainer — you don’t want these to go through.) Peek underneath the strainer — if it’s mostly pulp stuck there, scrape it off into the soup. If it’s mostly peels, dump it.
Serve in bowls and drizzle with olive oil. It’s good alongside crackers or another dry bread product.
Passover variation: Matzo instead of crackers.
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I’m interested in your gazpacho recipe, particularly your use of the “strainer thingy”. I don’t like the whole plug-in-the-blender thing (and that also means cleaning out all the sharp parts afterward), particularly when I’m in a hurry. Any idea who makes these? I’ve not seen one like it in the States. Do we have to go to israel to get one?
Comment by Jane — December 11, 2009 #
Hi Jane, a few things — first off, I do use a hand-held blender to make the gazpacho, although it is a lot easier to clean up than a full-sized blender. As for the “strainer thingy,” apparently it’s actually called a “food mill“. I’ve also found it listed as a “rotary spaetzle maker” or a “rotary salad maker.” While I’ve never seen them in a store in the U.S., they seem quite common in Europe.
Also, the food mill isn’t entirely mess-free, as it has three different parts that need to be cleaned when you’re done, and the strainer fills up with bits of tomato skin that you don’t want in your gazpacho.
Comment by Liz — December 11, 2009 #
Liz,
Thanks for the info and the links. The States seems to focus on things that require electricity! That’s why I’m interested in the “strainer thingy”. (But the hand-held is still an option.) These options are great – and I see they are also good for mashed potatoes – so mashed potatoes and gazpacho (more often): here we come!
BTW, there must be many varieties of authentic gazpacho, depending on the region, as there are many varieties of paella. My Spanish cooking book, Favorite Spanish dishes, translated by Mr. and Mrs. Gonzalez, Editorial Everest (1971) includes cucumber, lemon and parsley – and no peppers. I wonder what regional variation this one is.
Comment by Jane — December 11, 2009 #
My recipe is from Sra. Pilar, who lives in Madrid, and if I recall correctly, her family was from somewhere along the Mediterranean coast. I’m sure there are as many authentic gazpachos as there are Spaniards!
Comment by Liz — December 13, 2009 #