Gazpacho

No summer soup exploration would be complete without Gazpacho. I turned my nose up at the idea of cold soup for YEARS, only to discover how delicious it is last summer. DO try it!

Ingredients

Serves 6

For the soup:

700 g firm red ripe tomatoes
10 cm piece of cucumber, peeled and chopped
2 spring onions, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
½ large red or green bell pepper, deseeded and chopped
1 heaped teaspoon fresh chopped basil
4 tablespoons olive oil
1½ tablespoons wine vinegar
salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the garnish:

½ large red or green pepper, deseeded and very finely chopped
Another 10 cm piece of cucumber, peeled and finely chopped
2 spring onions, finely chopped
1 hard boiled egg, finely chopped (optional)
1 heaped tablespoon fresh chopped parsley
salt and freshly ground black pepper

To serve:

small croutons
4 ice cubes

Method:

Place the tomatoes, cucumber, spring onions, crushed garlic and chopped pepper in a blender, along with a seasoning of salt and pepper, the herbs, oil and the vinegar.

Blend until the soup is absolutely smooth. (Depending on the size of your blender, you may need to combine all the ingredients first, then blend in two or three batches.) Taste to check the seasoning and pour the soup into a bowl.

Stir in a little cold water to thin it slightly then cover the bowl and chill in the fridge for at least an hour.

To make the garnish, simply combine all the ingredients together with a seasoning of salt and freshly ground black pepper, and add to bowls before serving the soup into them.

Finally, add an ice cube to each bowl.

(Image by Paul Goyette)