Gazpacho
Ripe tomatoes macerated in salt and sherry vinegar, blended with soaked bread and emulsified with a lot of good oil.
- Prep
- 25m
- Cook
- —
- Waiting
- 3h 30m
- Total
- 3h 55m
- Serves
- 6
- Effort
- Easy
Method
Tap a step number to mark it done. Tap an ingredient once for got it, twice for need it.
| 1 kg | Macerate the vegetables with salt and vinegar 30m Salt pulls juice out of the tomato by osmosis, so the blender has liquid to work with and you add no water. | Blend until pale, then pour the oil in slowly with the motor running 6m Added in a thin stream the oil emulsifies and the colour lifts to a pale coral. Dumped in, it stays as slicks. | Pass through a fine sieve, pressing with a ladle 6m This is what turns a smoothie into a soup. Skins and seeds are the grit. | Chill at least 3 hours, then season again while it is cold 5m Cold blunts salt and acid. What tasted right at room temperature will taste flat from the fridge. | |
| 1/2 | |||||
| 1/2 | |||||
| 1 clove | |||||
| 2 tsp | |||||
| 2 tbsp | |||||
| 70 g | Soak the bread in a little water until it falls apart 10m The bread is a thickener and an emulsifier, not a filler. | ||||
| 80 ml | |||||
| 120 ml | |||||
| to taste | |||||
| to loosen | |||||
-
Macerate the vegetables with salt and vinegar
30m- very ripe tomatoes 1 kg
- cucumber 1/2
- green pepper 1/2
- garlic 1 clove
- salt 2 tsp
- sherry vinegar 2 tbsp
Salt pulls juice out of the tomato by osmosis, so the blender has liquid to work with and you add no water.
-
Soak the bread in a little water until it falls apart
10m- stale white bread 70 g
- water 80 ml
The bread is a thickener and an emulsifier, not a filler.
-
Blend until pale, then pour the oil in slowly with the motor running
6m- from 1 Macerate the vegetables with salt and vinegar
- from 2 Soak the bread in a little water until it falls apart
- extra virgin olive oil 120 ml
Added in a thin stream the oil emulsifies and the colour lifts to a pale coral. Dumped in, it stays as slicks.
-
Pass through a fine sieve, pressing with a ladle
6m- from 3 Blend until pale, then pour the oil in slowly with the motor running
This is what turns a smoothie into a soup. Skins and seeds are the grit.
-
Chill at least 3 hours, then season again while it is cold
5m- from 4 Pass through a fine sieve, pressing with a ladle
- sherry vinegar to taste
- iced water (optional) to loosen
Cold blunts salt and acid. What tasted right at room temperature will taste flat from the fridge.
Why it turns coral, not red
Blended tomato and oil on their own separate. Bread supplies starch and pectin that stabilise the mixture, and pouring the oil in slowly under the blade shears it into droplets small enough to stay suspended — the same emulsion as mayonnaise, with bread standing in for egg yolk. Millions of those droplets scatter light, which is why a properly made gazpacho is pale salmon rather than tomato red, and why it feels creamy despite containing nothing creamy at all.
Notes
- The tomatoes are the recipe. Out of season, no technique saves it.
- Salt and vinegar always need topping up after chilling. Taste it cold, twice.
- Serve it very cold in glasses, with diced cucumber and a last thread of oil.