Creamy Gazpacho Andaluz Food

CREAMY GAZPACHO ANDALUZ

Steps:

• Roughly chop 2 pounds of tomatoes, half of cucumber, half of bell pepper, and half of onion and place in large bowl. Add garlic, chile, and 1½ teaspoons salt; toss until well combined. Set aside.
• Cut remaining tomatoes, cucumber, and pepper into ¼-inch dice; place vegetables in medium bowl. Mince remaining onion and add to diced vegetables. Toss with ½ teaspoon salt and transfer to fine-mesh strainer set over medium bowl. Set aside 1 hour.
• Transfer drained diced vegetables to medium bowl and set aside. Add bread pieces to exuded liquid (there should be about ¼ cup) and soak 1 minute. Add soaked bread and any remaining liquid to roughly chopped vegetables and toss thoroughly to combine.
• Transfer half of vegetable-bread mixture to blender and process 30 seconds. With blender running, slowly drizzle in ¼ cup oil and continue to blend until completely smooth, about 2 minutes. Strain soup through fine-mesh strainer into large bowl, using back of ladle or rubber spatula to press soup through strainer. Repeat with remaining vegetable-bread mixture and 1/4 cup olive oil.
• Stir vinegar, minced herb, and half of diced vegetables into soup and season to taste with salt and black pepper. Cover and refrigerate overnight or for at least 2 hours to chill completely and develop flavors. Serve, passing remaining diced vegetables, olive oil, sherry vinegar, and black pepper separately.
• Note: If kosher salt is not available, half the amount of table salt can be used.

CREAMY GAZPACHO

Steps:

• Place the bread in a large bowl. Pour the reserved tomato juice over the stale bread and set it aside for at least 10 minutes. Not only will this soften the bread, but also infuse it with the tomato flavor.
• In a food processor or a powerful blender, add all of the chopped vegetables. Puree the vegetables until they start to breakdown.
• Add the bread and the sherry vinegar to the blender. Turn the blender on and stream in the olive oil. Puree the mixture until smooth. Taste and adjust the seasoning. If the consistency is too thick, add water or more vinegar if you like, to adjust the thickness. Place the gazpacho into the refrigerator to chill for at least 2 hours to allow flavors to marry with one another.
• Serve the gazpacho in glasses, like they do in Spain, or you can serve it in bowls if you prefer.
• Cook's Notes: To make your gazpacho spicier, add some of the ribs and seeds from the jalapeno. You can adjust the oil and vinegar in this recipe to make it tangier if you like!
• Gazpacho gets better the longer that it sits.

GAZPACHO ANDALUZ

Steps:

• In a large mixing bowl combine the six slices of diced bread, 3 very ripe chopped tomatoes, 1 chopped cucumber, 3 tablespoons olive oil, and 1 quart of water. Let soak for 1 hour, then puree blender, half at a time, on high speed for 8 seconds. Strain through a coarse sieve into a large soup bowl.
• Add 2 cloves minced garlic, 2 tbsp wine vinegar, 2 tsp salt, 1 tsp ground cumin, and 4 ice cubes. Chill in the refrigerator for at least half an hour.
• Meanwhile in separate dishes put the diced pepper, diced ripe tomato, diced cucumber. Dice the 2 slices of bread, brush with melted butter, and brown. Place your croutons in a separate dish as well.
• Serve the gazpacho in well chilled bowls. Let each person help themselves to the diced garnishes in the small dishes, sprinkling some of each into their own soup bowl.