Gazpacho soup: a classic recipe. Gazpacho (cold Spanish soup)

Gazpacho is considered the Spanish national dish. The main ingredient is ripe tomatoes. In modern cooking, there are many variations of cold soup. Sweet or hot peppers, ice are often added to it. Gazpacho is especially in demand during the hot season. Despite the ingredients of the product, the soup is considered light.

Gazpacho: a classic of the genre

• tomatoes - 500 gr.
• onion - 45 gr.
• pepper (pickled) - 1 pc.
• fresh cilantro - 40 gr.
• "Tabasco" (gas station) - to your taste
• oil (vegetable, olive) - 55 gr.
• vinegar (preferably red wine) - 80 ml.
• natural tomato juice - 700 ml.
• fresh cucumber - 60 gr.

1. Take half of the whole mass of tomatoes, wash thoroughly. Next, cut in half the onion and cucumber. Chop the tomatoes into small pieces.
2. Send the red pepper and prepared vegetables to the bowl of a blender or food processor. Bring the ingredients to a homogeneous slurry.
3. Pour tomato juice, chopped cilantro, olive oil, vinegar and 4 gr. Tabasco sauce. Thoroughly mix the ingredients in a common bowl.
4. Chop the turnip onion, cucumber and remaining tomatoes into cubes, get rid of the seeds. Add the ingredients to the resulting soup, send it to the refrigerator. Pepper, add salt to taste before use.

Gazpacho with tarragon

• garlic - 5 teeth
• sweet pepper (red) - 350 gr.
• onion - 120 gr.
• tomato paste - 55 gr.
• tomatoes - 415 gr.
• olive oil - 55 ml.
• cucumber - 270 gr.
• fresh tarragon - 25 gr.
• tomato juice - 650 ml.
• crushed cayenne pepper - 6 gr.
• lemon - ½ pc.
• wine red vinegar - 55 ml.

1. Rinse the tomatoes, if necessary, get rid of the stalks. Chop the tomatoes into small pieces. Also clean the pepper, cut into slices.
2. Leave some vegetables to decorate the gazpacho. Peel the garlic, finely chop, do the same with the remaining vegetables and herbs.
3. Send the prepared products to the blender. Grind them, leaving small pieces. It is not necessary to bring the mixture to homogeneity.
4. Pour the gruel into a suitable container, add vinegar, tomato and lemon juice to the mixture. Add cayenne pepper and some salt to your personal taste. Stir the soup, let it brew for 3-4 hours. Decorate the gazpacho with vegetable pieces.

Gazpacho with red onion

• salt - to your taste
• olive oil - 75 gr.
• wine vinegar - 120 ml.
• tomato juice - 0.5 l.
• red onion - 140 gr.
• bell pepper - 2 pcs.
• tomato - 430 gr.
• cucumbers - 370 gr.
• "Tabasco" (refueling) - 5 gr.

1. Wash vegetables. Finely chop the tomatoes, peppers, onions and cucumbers. Pour in olive oil, tabasco, vinegar and tomato juice.
2. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and add pepper and salt. Mix ingredients thoroughly. Half of the mass should be poured into the blender bowl.
3. After that, grind the products into a homogeneous mixture. Connect both masses together, mix again. Send the gazpacho to the refrigerator for 5 hours.

• cucumbers - 1 pc.
• garlic - 5 teeth
• ripe tomatoes - 7 pcs.
• drinking water - 120 ml.
• Bulgarian pepper - 1 pc.
• salt - 15 gr.
• olive oil - 110 ml.
• wine vinegar - 85 ml.

1. Remove the skin from the cucumber and tomatoes, then chop finely. Peel the bell pepper, get rid of the seeds, then cut the product into pieces.
2. Peel the garlic and chop finely. Combine it in a common bowl with vinegar, salt, water, sweet pepper and olive oil. Stir the ingredients thoroughly, pass them through a blender.
3. If the ingredients do not fit in the blender, divide the ingredients into portions. Send the total mass to cool for 4 hours. Add salt to taste before drinking.

Gazpacho with mint

• natural tomato juice - 1 l.
• sweet pepper (red) - 2 pcs.
• onion - 1 pc.
• tomatoes - 5 pcs.
• sweet pepper (green) - 2 pcs.
• celery - 1 pc.
• basil - to taste
• cucumber - 1 pc.
• fresh mint - 35 gr.
• ice - in fact

1. Rinse and clean vegetables in the usual way. Chop food into small cubes.
2. Pass the vegetables through a blender, pour the mass into a suitable bowl. Place in refrigerator. Before serving, gazpacho should be garnished with mint leaves.

Gazpacho with zucchini

• red pepper - 60 gr.
• yellow pepper - 50 gr.
• fresh tomatoes - 6 pcs.
• zucchini - 70 gr.
• garlic - 5 teeth
• onion - 20 gr.
• cucumbers - 40 gr.
• cayenne pepper - 4 gr.
• olive oil - 95 ml.
• parsley - 15 gr.
• table vinegar - 45 ml.

1. Wash the vegetables under running water, chop the tomatoes into cubes, cut fresh peppers, cucumber, zucchini, garlic and onions. Send the products to the appropriate cup. Mix ingredients thoroughly.
2. In a separate small bowl, combine finely chopped parsley, olive oil, cayenne pepper and table vinegar. Mix the composition thoroughly, pour into the main ingredients.
3. Take half of the products from the total mass, pass through a blender. Add the resulting slurry back and mix. Place the finished soup in the refrigerator until completely chilled.

Gazpacho with lemon

• sweet pepper - 1 pc.
• tomatoes -5 pcs.
• garlic - 2 cloves
• ciabatta - 1 pc.
• onion - 40 gr.
• cucumbers - 1 pc.
• cilantro - 30 gr.
• salt - to taste
• lemon - 1 pc.
• olive oil - 100 ml.
• pepper mixture - 7 gr.

1. Wash the tomatoes, remove the stalk (if necessary), slightly cut them crosswise. Peel the bell pepper, remove the seeds, cut into small slices.
2. Peel the garlic, send it to a special crusher. Remove the husk from the onion, finely chop it. Peel the cucumber, cut into cubes.
3. If necessary, soften the ciabatta in lukewarm water. Send the tomatoes in a container with boiling water. Bulgarian pepper, garlic, onion and cucumbers pass through a blender.
4. Rinse the greens, allow all the liquid to drain, then finely chop it. Send the cilantro along with the ciabatta breadcrumbs to a blender.
5. After 30 seconds, remove the tomatoes, send them to cold water for 1 minute. Remove the skin, cut in half, send to a blender.
6. After a while, add olive oil, salt, freshly squeezed lemon juice and pepper mixture to the bowl of the household appliance. Whisk in a blender.
7. Pour the resulting gazpacho into a suitable bowl, mix again. Send the dish to the refrigerator until the next morning. Soup is recommended to be consumed after infusion.

• cucumber - 1 pc.
• ripe tomatoes - 4 pcs.
• bell pepper - 1 pc.
• garlic - 3 cloves
• white bread - 2 slices
• onion - 45 gr.
• olive oil - 55 gr.
• sea ​​salt - to taste
• wine vinegar (red) - 30 ml.
• allspice - 4 gr.
• Tabasco sauce - to taste
• avocado - 1 pc.
• Manchego cheese - 60 gr.

1. Chop the washed tomatoes into several equal sections. Cut pepper, bread, cucumber into small squares. Send the peeled garlic to the crusher. Combine the components in a common container, add olive oil, 10 gr. sea ​​salt and vinegar.
2. Mix the ingredients thoroughly, send the bowl with the contents to the refrigerator for 1.5 hours. After a certain time, send the components to the blender bowl. Achieve a homogeneous slurry from the products.
3. After the manipulation, add ground pepper and Tabasco sauce, and add a little salt if necessary. Stir the composition, send it back to the refrigerator for 2 hours. Next, start cooking the croutons.
4. Take the number of slices of bread according to your tastes and needs. Place a thick-bottomed pan on the stove, heat it up. Pour in olive oil, spread the composition over the entire plane.
5. As soon as the oil is completely hot, add the diced bread to the pan, fry until crispy. Cooking time will be about 7 minutes. Serve gazpacho with croutons, a little olive oil, grated cheese and diced avocado.

Gazpacho with crab

• snow crab - 250 gr.
• fresh cucumbers - 450 gr.
• sweet pepper - 2 pcs.
• tomatoes - 1 kg.
• garlic - 4 cloves
• red onion - 1 pc.
• parsley - 30 gr.
• chili pepper - 1 pc.
• cilantro - 25 gr.
• tomato juice - 0.5 l.
• olive oil - 80 ml.
• lemon juice - 50 ml.
• granulated sugar - 25 gr.
• fine salt - to taste

1. Wash and cut vegetables. Chop tomatoes and cucumbers. Do the same with pepper, onion, garlic, parsley. Send the products to the blender, achieve a homogeneous slurry from the composition.
2. If necessary, defrost the crab, divide the meat into fibers. Connect the product with 30 ml. olive oil, 25 ml. lemon juice and a little cilantro. Mix thoroughly.
3. Pour the rest of the oil, tomato and lemon juices, granulated sugar, pepper, salt into the bulk. The resulting composition must be passed through the blender again.
4. Refrigerate the gazpacho before serving. Pour the soup into serving bowls, mix the mass with a mixture of snow crab and cilantro leaves.

Gazpacho with honey

• fresh tomatoes - 5 pcs.
• olive oil - 55 gr.
• garlic - 4 cloves
• lemon juice - 45 ml.
• viscous honey - 30 gr.
• avocado - 1 pc.
• fresh basil - 25 gr.
• sweet pepper - 1 pc.
• celery stalks - 5 pcs.
• parsley - 20 gr.
• onion -35 gr.
• filtered water - 100 ml.

1. Chop the tomatoes, transfer to a blender bowl along with olive oil, honey, garlic, lemon juice, basil and salt. Pour in 100 ml. water, bring the mixture to a smooth consistency.
2. Pour the mass into a cup convenient for you, add finely chopped avocados, onions, peppers and celery to the total mixture. Arrange ingredients, sprinkle with parsley. Send the gazpacho to the refrigerator.

Gazpacho with peaches

• crushed ice - 60 gr.
• peaches - 500 gr.
• onion - 25 gr.
• fleshy tomatoes - 800 gr.
• olive oil - 50 gr.
• tarragon (leaves) - 40 gr.
• vinegar (it is better to take white) - 45 gr.
• filtered water - 120 gr.
• salt - 12 gr.

1. Rinse the tomatoes, skip 0.5 kg. through a blender, do the same with half the peaches, ice, finely chopped onions, 30 gr. olive oil, 25 ml. vinegar, 20 gr. tarragon, 8 gr. salt and 3 gr. ground pepper.
2. Turn on the device, achieve homogeneity from the products. It is recommended to pass the finished puree through a fine sieve. Next, water is added (optional) to acquire the desired consistency.
3. Chop the remaining tomatoes and peaches into small cubes, send the products to a separate container. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Chill both formulations in the refrigerator. Serve, add fruit and vegetable mixture on top.

Gazpacho is considered the national Spanish soup. Gradually try all the cold food recipes, find the perfect one for yourself. The most common are technologies with peaches, honey, crab, croutons, zucchini, mint, wine vinegar, lemon. Treat family and friends, vary the amount of spices to your taste.

Video: gazpacho (cold tomato soup)

A dish called gazpacho comes from Spanish cuisine. The so-called cold soup is mostly found in the central as well as in the northern part of Spain. Traditionally, in the homeland, this dish is served after the main dish, but in our country it has become a full-fledged first course. This is definitely a summer dish, it requires fresh ingredients and is served cold.

It is alleged that the prepared gazpacho can be put in the refrigerator and, if desired, satisfyingly quench their thirst like juice, diluted with a little water.

The method of preparation has given rise to a mass of recipes with various ingredients. Some of them are given below, starting with the classic, traditional.

Gazpacho: a classic recipe with a photo

An old simple cooking recipe, on the basis of which many others have subsequently been created. It is easy to prepare at home.

Ingredients

• 450 grams of tomato;
• one pepper (you can use canned);
• one onion;
• one cucumber. Size is dictated by preference;
• three glasses of tomato juice;
• half a glass of cilantro;
• a third (maybe a little less) of a glass of red wine vinegar;
• a quarter cup of olive oil;
• Tabasco sauce. The amount depends on personal preference - the more, the spicier.

1. The soup is mainly made from tomatoes. Finely chop half (about 225 grams), as well as half of the onion and cucumber and transfer to a blender bowl or food processor.
2. Add red pepper to it as well. Bring to the state of a homogeneous puree, then pour the mass into a separate bowl.
3. Pour the tomato juice into the same bowl.
4. Chop the cilantro very finely. After that, we send it to a common dish.
5. Add vinegar and oil, Tabasco to taste. Mix everything thoroughly.
6. Remove the seeds from the remaining tomatoes and finely chop them.
7. Also finely chop the remaining half of the onion and cucumber.
8. All chopped ingredients are transferred to the soup.
9. Salt. You can also pepper it.

After the soup is cooked, it should be placed in the refrigerator to cool. However, you should not leave it for a long time. Considering its recipe, consistency and ingredients, gazpacho is a perishable dish.

Gazpacho: St. Petersburg recipe

After this recipe came to our latitudes, culinary specialists repeatedly experimented with its composition. Here's one of those cooking methods.

Ingredients

• four tomatoes;
• one bell pepper;
• ciabatta crackers;
• one cucumber. The value is dictated by preference;
• one chin clove;
• one onion. The value is dictated by preference;
• bunch of cilantro. The quantity is dictated by personal preference;
• olive oil four tablespoons;
• one lemon;
• salt and a mixture of "seven peppers". Quantity is dictated by preference.

Step by step cooking method

1. We put a pot of water on the stove.
2. Peppers are cleaned from seeds, washed and also coarsely chopped.
3. Onions, like tomatoes, cut into four parts.
4. Peel the cucumber and chop coarsely.
5. Crackers should be soaked in boiling water.
6. Tomatoes are transferred to boiled water for 10 minutes.
7. Cucumber, onion and pepper are placed in a blender. We also crush a garlic clove there.
8. Rinse the cilantro thoroughly. Finely chop and pour into a blender.
9. Drain excess liquid from the breadcrumbs and transfer them to a blender as well.
10. We take out the tomatoes from the pan. We clear the skin. After boiling water, this should not cause problems. Cut in half or quarters each. After that, also put them in a blender.
11. Turn on the first speed and bring to a homogeneous mass.
12. After we stop and add oil, salt and add three tablespoons of lemon juice and a mixture of "four peppers". Lemon juice can be replaced with apple cider vinegar.
13. We start the blender again and wait until everything is well mixed.
14. Then pour into a bowl and put in the fridge to cool.

Gazpacho recipe with breadcrumbs and garlic

Ingredients

• half fresh red pepper;
• half green pepper;
• small cucumber;
• two cloves of garlic;
• two heads of shallots;
• three to four tomatoes;
• 10 grams of fresh mint;
• half a chili pepper;
• 55 milliliters of red wine vinegar;
• 25 grams of bread crumbs;
• 20 grams of white bread;
• a teaspoon of ketchup;
• 10 grams of butter;
• olive oil.

Step by step cooking method

1. Rinse the vegetables and pat them dry with a towel.
2. Remove seeds and stems from peppers.
3. Peel the skin off the cucumber and chop finely.
4. Finely chop the tomatoes. In this recipe, it is desirable to use the "lady fingers" variety, but this is not necessary.
5. Peel garlic and onion. Finely chop along with mint and chili.
6. Set aside a few tablespoons of finely chopped cucumber and sweet pepper in a separate bowl. They will be needed to add to the already prepared soup.
7. Transfer the remaining chopped vegetables with mint and chili to a bowl, add salt and black pepper and pour everything with 450 milliliters of water (ice).
8. Grind the contents of the bowl in portions with a blender to a smooth puree and pour into a saucepan.
9. When everything is crushed, put the pan with mashed potatoes for a couple of hours in the refrigerator.
10. Next, prepare the crackers.
11. Finely cut the bread into cubes.
12. Prepared butter is melted in a pan and mixed with 10 grams of olive oil.
13. Pour the bread cubes into the pan. Shaking and stirring, fry them until golden brown.

When serving a chilled soup, finely chopped cucumber and pepper, as well as crackers, should be placed next to it in a separate small bowl. The soup, poured into bowls, should be sprinkled with olive oil.

Gazpacho: recipe with shrimp

With gazpacho, as in the case of most Mediterranean dishes, a recipe using seafood could not but appear. Perhaps this is the best recipe that even managed to flash in the video of Yulia Vysotskaya.

Gazpacho is a cold tomato soup with pieces of bread, peppers, garlic, olive oil, cucumbers, onions, lemon juice, salt, spices and vinegar. Gazpacho soup is very popular in Spain, Portugal, southern France, USA, Mexico, Latin and South America.

Initially, gazpacho was made only from bread, olive oil and vinegar. It was a stew similar to Russian tyura. So this soup was known during the Roman Empire and was prepared throughout the territory of modern Spain, Portugal, Italy and the south of France. The appearance of gazpacho in the form in which we know it now was laid in Andalusia long before Columbus traveled to America. Overripe vegetables began to be used in the soup, and the gazpacho was an unappetizing greenish color.

Many will be surprised, but tomatoes in gazpacho appeared only in the 19th century and they did not want to recognize the newfangled red gazpacho for a long time and even actively resisted the innovation, continuing to cook the traditional version with bread crumb, vegetables, olive oil, and vinegar. Moreover, in cookbooks, the name caspacho often means stew with vegetables than cold soup. This division, evident in the 18th and 19th centuries, can confuse the unprepared public today - the same name is used for tomato puree soup and the same name for a stew dish.

The origin of the name of this Spanish dish lies in the play on several verbs denoting tearing, soaking and grinding. The Spaniards still argue about the name and the primacy of the name, but the rest of the world has long accepted gazpacho as one of the main Spanish culinary brands. The dish went beyond the borders of Spain and gained international recognition, first in Spanish-speaking countries, and then throughout the world. Gazpacho is loved for its ease of preparation, fresh and clear taste, pleasant vegetable satiety and beautiful color.

We will offer a basic recipe for gazpacho, as they see it in Spain. It’s worth clarifying right away that it’s not customary to give exact proportions, because everyone prepares their own gazpacho, and painting everything by grams is killing the poetry of cooking. This approach to the recipe is observed in Italy, and in southern France, and in general in many Mediterranean countries. Usually, experienced chefs emphasize certain operations or make important remarks about the quality of the products, their ripeness, or the use of vegetable varieties. In any case, cooking gazpacho far from its historical homeland, we will get our own soup, which will be completely in line with European culinary traditions. The most important thing is not to be afraid to spoil anything. This is exactly the case when you need to try hard to cook badly or incorrectly.

So, the recommendations of Spanish and Portuguese chefs:
. Use good ripe vegetables. Rinse them well, peel and cut into cubes.
. Remove seeds and skins by dipping vegetables in boiling water.
. Bread may be stale, but not moldy. Soak it in water before using. Bread must be wheat.
. Bread can be dried on its own. Make croutons using a grill pan or oven. The croutons should not be too dry.
. If you want a classic gazpacho, use a mortar and pestle. In a blender, gazpacho cooks faster, but gives an unnecessarily homogeneous structure and foam.
. Even if you cook everything in a blender, be sure to grind fresh herbs in a mortar before pouring into a jug.
. Add ice water.
. Taste your gazpacho before and after adding spices, salt, garlic and olive oil. Add in small portions - you may find the amount of additions sufficient on an intermediate sample.

Andalusian gazpacho

Ingredients:
stale bread,
tomatoes,
cucumbers,
Bell pepper,
greenery,
onion,
garlic,
olive oil,
vinegar,
salt.

Cooking:
Rinse the vegetables, peel them and cut into cubes. Remove seeds. Prepare croutons or use stale bread. Soak the bread. For the traditional method, first grind the spices and aromatic ingredients, like garlic, in a mortar, and then grind the vegetables in small portions and mix in a common plate. For the modern blender method, place the tomatoes, cucumber, onion, garlic, pepper and soaked breadcrumbs in a blender jar and blend. Add spices in batches.

Gazpacho is somewhat similar to Russian okroshka, and here's what. Sometimes, to diversify the soup, finely and medium-cut pieces of unground vegetables, croutons, ham, eggs, boiled green peas or seafood are added to gazpacho. The only difference is that they are added to a plate or mug with gazpacho already poured, and not poured into sliced ​​gazpacho. For this version of the soup, it is customary to make gazpacho not too liquid and add water sparingly. This version of gazpacho is called salmorejo in southern Spain. Presumably, a similar soup served as a marinade for cooking big game, but over time it was combined with gazpacho and became one of its regional versions.

Another version of gazpacho is considered ajoblanco - a cold soup made from soaked bread crumbs, olive oil, garlic, almonds and vinegar. Ahoblanco is served with melon slices in any cafe in Malaga or Seville. There are versions of ahoblanco with grapes, fresh fruit slices and baked potatoes. Blanco, that is, white, this soup is made by intensive whipping of olive oil with vinegar and water until the state of an emulsion of a specific light shade. Ahoblanco and salmorejo are considered, if not the progenitors of gazpacho, then his siblings, whose culinary paths diverged at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries.

Gazpacho with ice cubes is the most popular variant of the modern "tomato soup". Gazpacho is made of medium density, a handful of ice cubes are poured into a bouillon mug and everything is poured with cooked gazpacho. The ice will melt a little and give additional moisture. It is important to consider that only large cubes or ice of a different shape are used here, but in no case are crushed ones, which can injure the oral cavity. Add ice sparingly, the gazpacho only needs to be cooled slightly, and not made ice cold.

Gazpacho has long ceased to be exclusively a Spanish soup. The appearance of tomatoes in his recipe meant in itself that gazpacho was not a rigid old recipe. Gazpacho allows you to cook yourself in different ways, and it's wonderful! To begin with, let's see how gazpacho is prepared in other countries, and then we'll see how it is prepared in Russia, Ukraine and other countries where tomatoes have long become "like native".

In Latin America, from Mexico to Panama, Colombia and Venezuela, including Jamaica and Cuba, gazpacho is as popular as in Spain. America is the birthplace of tomatoes, sweet and hot peppers. Modern gazpacho is unthinkable without tomatoes. American gazpacho is made with tomatoes, olive oil, stale bread soaked in water, garlic and spices. But the specificity of the region is in the addition of avocado pulp. Avocados were cultivated by the Aztecs in the 3rd millennium BC, and were highly valued before and after the "discovery" of the Americas by Europeans. These fruits have a neutral taste, they are high in healthy fats, avocados perfectly saturate and make gazpacho thicker and silky in taste. Lemon or lime juice must be added to the avocado pulp to prevent it from darkening. Avocado gazpacho is popular in the USA, South America, Southeast Asia, South Africa, Israel and Australia.

Gazpacho with avocado

Ingredients:
1 ripe avocado
6-7 ripe tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic
½ lemon or 1 lime
1 sweet red pepper
1 red large mild chili
2-3 tbsp. tablespoons of olive oil
coriander greens (cilantro),
salt,
bread.

Cooking:
Soak bread in water. Rinse the vegetables, peel the garlic, remove the core with seeds from peppers and tomatoes. Scoop out the flesh of the avocado with a spoon and place in a blender. Squeeze lemon juice over avocado. Add butter, bread along with soaking water, vegetable pieces and a pinch of salt. Grind everything in a blender. Taste and add water if thick and salt if not salty.

In addition to avocados, gazpacho with sweet and hot peppers is very popular in Mexico. It was Mexican tastes that significantly influenced the gazpacho recipe in Europe. Mexicans add several varieties of sweet peppers and mild red chilies to their cold soup. By the way, chili adds more than just spiciness to the soup. On the contrary, red pepper varieties, which are usually used as an additive to gazpacho, have a low degree of spiciness, but they are very fragrant, besides, small bright red pieces of chili look great in the overall mix.

In Russia, many dishes are traditionally adapted to the specific needs of modern Russian cuisine. Of course, you can find components exactly like Spanish ones, or even buy Spanish tomatoes, Spanish garlic, Spanish olive oil and enjoy Spanish gazpacho, but this is not only uninteresting, it is in itself against the nature of a truly folk dish. I think that any peasant from Seville and Andalusia will shake hands with our chefs for their own approach to making gazpacho.

So, in Russia, black rye bread is used much more often, this greatly distinguishes Russians from the rest of the world, and this is not a reason to be ashamed. Rye bread has long been recognized as an element of a healthy diet; Europeans simply do not know how to bake it. We are proud of black bread and soak stale salmon or stale crust in water at Borodino. Yes, the taste will change, but black bread adds masculine confidence, northern austerity and a piece of the Russian soul to gazpacho. In addition to tomatoes and garlic, common in Russia, you can add ripe zucchini and fresh boiled green peas. If you associate gazpacho exclusively with red, then add red vegetables - tomatoes, sweet peppers and chili. Be careful with chili, some varieties can be very spicy, be sure to remove the seeds and white membranes, and of course, taste before adding to the mix. If the color is not important, or you are familiar with ancient traditions and know that in ancient times the dish was not so beautiful, but no less tasty, then this unties your hands. Mature zucchini is sometimes added to gazpacho, apples, fresh mint, dill, cilantro and even boiled hard vegetables. But the priority is always fresh ingredients. To add or not to add tomato paste is a personal matter. If you trust the manufacturer or the color of the soup is catastrophically pale, but you want red, add it. By the way, sweet and hot peppers give red color well.

You will be surprised, but there is beetroot gazpacho. Beets are boiled or baked (which is preferable), peeled, cut into cubes and mixed with any ripe vegetables, garlic, tomatoes and soaked bread. Beetroot gazpacho is a rather strange soup for Europeans, but Russian cuisine has its own cold soup - botvinya, the main ingredient of which is red beets, so everything is fine. Beets are excellent friends with vegetable oil - with olive, sunflower, sesame, hemp or soybean.

By the way, about oil. Of course, olive oil goes best with gazpacho. But sometimes it is quite difficult to find quality olive oil and you have to think about substitutions. Before adding oil, smell and evaluate if you want to combine these flavors, imagine them together. If the combination does not cause dissonance, add, but in moderation. Seems not enough - add a little later.

Vinegar or lemon juice. Everything is more complicated here. Mediterranean cuisine uses balsamic or wine vinegar. This is not the same as our colorless 6% vinegar or even apple cider vinegar, which is considered bland. If balsamic or wine vinegar is not available, use lemon juice. Sometimes sour apple juice or a little sour wine is added instead of water for flavoring. By the way, the tradition of adding wine to gazpacho is still alive in some parts of Italy. True, there it is called posca and is considered a traditional soldier's dish from the time of the Roman Empire.

We understand that the more new or unusual elements get into gazpacho, the further we move away from the Spanish name, and it's time to start thinking about our own. As you know, in Russia there have always been three of their own cold soups - tyurya, okroshka and beetroot soup. Tyurya is almost identical to the soldier's Roman stew of the time of Christ, and beetroot is the brother of gazpacho, which suggests a close intercultural exchange in the mists of time, at least in the field of cooking. At the same time, we have an ironclad response to criticism of bold experiments. Most importantly, do not forget that gazpacho is bread, water, olive oil, vegetables, garlic, vinegar (or lemon), spices and salt, crushed to a puree. And what vegetables to prefer, and what color your gazpacho will be, will depend on personal preferences.

Spaniards use white wheat bread to make gazpacho (homemade is best). I had a delicious malt bread made from wheat and rye flour. The bread is delicious, so I made gazpacho with it. Bread must be stale, therefore, it is better to put pieces of bread to dry in a day or two. Delicious if the bread is dried in the oven.

As a child, my mother often made such a quick and tasty dish for us: stale white bread, a few cloves of garlic, a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil and a few tablespoons of water. Garlic was rubbed with salt in a makitra (a deep clay pot with a wide neck), broken bread, butter and water were added there. Everything was mixed up and after 5 minutes the children ate delicious "shulyki" (that's what their mother called them).

I do not think that the inhabitants of the Ukrainian village knew about the Spanish gazpacho, but it was precisely the original version of this dish, and this is how the preparation of modern cold Spanish soup begins.

Cooking:

Break the bread into small pieces, crush the garlic in a garlic press or grind with salt in a mortar. Mix bread, garlic, 3 tbsp. tablespoons of olive oil and 5 tbsp. spoons of water. Leave for 15 minutes.

Peel the cucumber (optional). Cut a few cucumbers and peppers into small cubes to decorate the gazpacho.

Cucumber and pepper cut into small pieces.

Grind in a blender or pass through a meat grinder. You can also finely chop and crush in a mortar.

Onion and soaked bread with garlic also chop in a blender. If the onion is very bitter, you can first put it (in chopped form) for 5 minutes in boiling water, or mix the chopped onion with 1 tbsp. a spoonful of lemon juice, a pinch of salt and a pinch of sugar and leave for 20 minutes.

Grind the tomatoes in a blender, after removing the skin from them. If the tomatoes are thick-skinned, small cuts should be made on them and placed in boiling water for 5 minutes. The skin will come off easily.

Mix all the ingredients, add salt and wine vinegar (for lack of such, I use lemon juice). The amount of acid depends on the degree of acidity of the tomatoes and your taste. If it turns out very sour, you need to add sugar. I also add a slightly cut pod of hot red pepper. The larger the pod and the longer it sits in the soup, the spicier the dish will be.

You can add cumin. Place in the refrigerator to infuse for at least 2 hours. If the soup is thick, you can dilute it with cold water or add some crushed ice.

Serve soup with parsley and basil, as well as toasted white bread.

Well, no one will forbid you to connect your imagination to this basic recipe and add Tabasco sauce, sour cream, egg, white wine, celery, soy sauce, ham to gazpacho ...

Gazpacho is great for hot summer days. And it can also be used as a low-calorie product for weight loss. The gazpacho recipe can be varied and supplemented, and if desired, some ingredients can be excluded from its composition. An obligatory component is tomatoes, you can safely experiment with other products and spices.

When to cook

Refreshing gazpacho, whose classic recipe came to us from hot Spain, can be a great alternative to okroshka, which occupies such an important place on summer holiday tables. But if the latter can be prepared in the winter, having obtained greenhouse cucumbers in the supermarket, then the first in our region is easiest to treat yourself to in summer and autumn, because several vegetables are required for its preparation. And the classic gazpacho has another advantage for the hot season: to cook it, you do not need to hang around the red-hot stove, languishing from the unbearable heat.

Gazpacho: a classic recipe

Many similar recipes are based on approximately the same technology: vegetable puree is prepared, kneaded in a meat grinder or chopped using kitchen appliances. Some of the vegetables are crushed into cubes and added to the pureed ones.

Products for gazpacho

The classic recipe involves the presence of fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, celery, bell peppers and herbs. Most cooks add garlic, herbs and olive oil to gazpacho. The options are very tasty, in which canned olives, pickled mushrooms, lime slices, sesame seeds, rubbed garlic crackers are connected to the classic set of vegetables.

Product proportions:

• tomatoes (ripe, red) - about a kilogram;
• cucumbers (preferably ground) - half a kilo;
• Bulgarian pepper of different colors - 0.3 kg;
• onion - 1 pc.;
• garlic - 2-3 medium cloves;
• olive oil, chopped herbs, pepper and salt, and ice.

Preparing gazpacho. Procedure

1. First of all, we choose the best seasonal vegetables without visible damage. Wash them and dry them with paper towels.
2. Remove the skin from the tomato. To do this, blanch them in boiling water for half a minute or steam them for 1-2 minutes in a double boiler. Immediately after this, dip into very cold water, then the skin will be easy to remove.
3. We clean the cucumbers, cut off the tips that can be bitter.
4. We clean the bell pepper from the centers with seeds.
5. We put aside 2 tomatoes, one small cucumber and several cloves of pepper of all colors that we managed to get.
6. Add some olive oil, lemon juice. Now it is desirable to beat the mass in a blender.
7. The main part of the vegetables, including the onion and garlic cloves, are cut into pieces and mashed from them.
8. Deferred vegetables chop into small cubes, add to the pureed base.
9. Now you can add greens and pieces of olives.

How to submit?

Gazpacho, the classic recipe of which is quite simple, is served cold in deep plates, bowls and even glasses. Often, a couple of ordinary ice cubes are added to each serving with soup. Rye, black or whole grain bread, croutons, toast goes very well with this dish.