Early Girl Tomato Gazpacho
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Gazpacho is literally summer in a bowl, and I try to make and eat it as many times as possible during tomato season. I use early girl tomatoes here, which are easily found in California in mid to late summer. If you don't have early girls or can't find them where you are, use the freshest, most tomato-smelling and tasting tomatoes you can find.
I use yellow onion in my version, which gives the soup a little bit of "spice," but you can easily substitute a small shallot, or the same amount of red onion or white onion which are a little softer.
There are different styles of gazpacho - this one is pureed and smooth. After blending everything, I pass it through a fine mesh strainer. It takes 15 minutes to do this, as the soup is pretty thick so you have to stir it constantly to pass it through, but it will catch all the sediment and skins / seeds that would otherwise make the soup taste grainy. In short, it's VERY worth it to take this step!
It has to chill for several hours to really become its best self - and then you can season it more just before serving (the seasoning / taste of soup changes the longer it sits, so it's best not to season it to perfection right out of the blender, wait until you're ready to serve it!). Top with some finely diced Persian cucumber, and halved sun gold or cherry tomatoes, a pinch of salt and chives, and a drizzle of really good olive oil.
Unlike many gazpacho recipes, this one DOES NOT use any bread, so it is gluten free. It's also vegan and vegetarian.
Serves 4 as an appetizer, 6 if your'e serving smaller portions (it yields ~1 quart of gazpacho).
Special Equipment
Ingredients
Directions
Add the chopped tomatoes, half red bell pepper, chopped onion, chopped Persian cucumber and garlic cloves to a strong / high powered blender. Turn on the blender and puree until smooth on high speed.
Add in the 2 teaspoons sherry vinegar and 1 teaspoon champagne vinegar, along with 2 teaspoons kosher salt, and puree again for 30 seconds.
Turn the blender to the lowest speed, and with the motor running, slowly drizzle in 1/2 cup of olive oil. As soon as it's all added, turn the speed up to high for another 30 seconds.
Place a fine mesh strainer over a large bowl or large liquid measuring cup. Pour some of the soup into the strainer and use a wooden spoon or spatula to stir the soup to help it pass through the mesh strainer into the bowl or liquid measuring cup below. It will seem like it's not passing through very easily - just keep stirring, it will all go through eventually, leaving behind some sediment from the skins and seeds of the vegetables.
Repeat with the remaining soup (this process might take 15 minutes). Transfer the bowl or liquid measuring cup to the refrigerator (or transfer it to a container(s) with a lid and place in the fridge). Let chill for 4-6 hours, up to overnight.
When ready to serve, pour the soup into individual bowls (using a liquid measuring cup for this helps a lot!), then divide the chopped sungold or cherry tomatoes, the finely diced cucumber, the chopped chives and the extra virgin olive oil over the top of each bowl. Add a pinch of kosher salt to the top of the veggies in the bowl, and serve!