My Favourite Summer Soups
I decided to make some fresh tomato Gazpacho. I added some red bell pepper (red capsicum), cucumber, finely chopped red onions and a dash of toasted and freshly ground cumin seeds. I love my soups blended to perfection, so I blended and strained the soup. If you prefer soup with some texture, then blend very briefly or blend three quarters of the soup and add a quarter of the chopped ingredients.
Gazpacho is a soup made out of raw vegetables. It is served cold. Besides the raw veggies, chilled water, olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper are added to enhance the flavour. It’s best served on a warm summer day. This soup tasted refreshing. I hope you’ll like it the way we did.
- Ingredients
- 900g (2Ib) ripe tomatoes, chopped
- 1 cucumber, peeled and chopped (about 8 inches long)
- 1 medium red bell pepper (capsicum) seeded and chopped
- 1 small red onion, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro
- 6 tablespoons olive oil
- About 250ml (1 cup) chilled water
- 2 slices bread, crusts removed and chopped
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon roasted and ground cumin seeds
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- Finely diced red onion, cucumber and fresh cilantro leaves to garnish
Place tomatoes, cucumber, red pepper, onion, garlic, cilantro, olive oil and ½ cup of the water in a food processor or blender and place the bread on top. Process until thick and smooth. Add in the vinegar, sugar, cumin and salt and pepper to taste, blend for a few seconds.
Sieve the soup into a large bowl. Check seasoning and Chill for at least 2 hours.
To serve: check the consistency and add a splash more water if necessary. Ladle the soup into bowls. Garnish with onion, cucumber and fresh cilantro leaves, and serve.
This soup tasted amazing
Simple Spanish Gazpacho
Preparation time: 30 minutes + chilling time; Serves: 6
Ingredients
- 900g (2Ib) ripe tomatoes, chopped
- 1 cucumber, peeled and chopped (about 8 inches long)
- 1 medium red bell pepper (capsicum) seeded and chopped
- 1 small red onion, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro
- 6 tablespoons olive oil
- About 250ml (1 cup) chilled water
- 2 slices bread, crusts removed and chopped
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon roasted and ground cumin seeds
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- Finely diced red onion, cucumber and fresh cilantro leaves to garnish
Instructions
- Place tomatoes, cucumber, red pepper, onion, garlic, cilantro, olive oil and ½ cup of the water in a food processor or blender and place the bread on top. Process until thick and smooth.
- Add in the vinegar, sugar, cumin and salt and pepper to taste, blend for a few seconds. Sieve the soup into a large bowl. Check seasoning and Chill for at least 2 hours.
- To serve: check the consistency and add a splash more water if necessary. Ladle the soup into bowls. Garnish with onion, cucumber and fresh cilantro leaves, and serve.
myfavouritepastime.com
My Favourite Pastime 
[…] tomato juice although I can’t remember the last time I had some. The closest I had, was this Simple Gazpacho, during summer. The other day a friend of mine made a tomato pie. She basically filled a nice […]
Great for summer! Such wonderful flavor and loaded with veggies!
Thanks, Cecile. Have a great week!
Liz
Hello I nominated you for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award! Congrats!!! 🙂
http://aalifemoment.com/2014/07/17/inspiring-blogger-award-2014/
Thanks so much for nominating me. I need all the inspiration I can have. Have a great week!
lIz
You are more than welcome! You really deserve it!
Best wishes,
Alice
Thank you for the kind words Alice. I am so touched!
Liz
🙂
You’ve got me in the mood for my holiday! I’m off to just south of Valencia on Sunday…..hopefully be trying out some of this…and a lot of paella!!
Oh your annual holiday. Enjoy yourself Keith and please mail me some paella. I am missing Europe!
Liz
It’s so hot here right now I could almost bathe in this soup! LOL….seriously, it does look wonderful and although I’m not crazy about cold soups, I bet it has some wonderful flavour, judging by the ingredient list. Tonight I am having left over potato salad, tomatoes and cucumber along with some cold sliced pepper ham. I mopped my floors thinking it might help add some humidity and coolness….only created fog! 🙂 I love that you added chopped red pepper to the soup because I think they add so much flavour and compliment tomatoes as well. Enjoying your blogging!
Ha ha how hilarious. If there were pools full of chilled summer soups we would all head there. I am also not crazy about certain cold soups like pepper soup, but I find Gazpacho refreshing because the fresh tomatoes are less sour. I also made some chilled mint and cucumber soup. The best soup I’ve ever tasted. I hope to post it and you must try it. I stopped mopping the flour, I just wear flip flops around the house. I hate the sticky feeling under my feet. I wouldn’t mind that cold sliced pepper ham of yours. Sounds like something I would throw in my omelette. Oh yes the addition of pepper was a great idea. The blogging is such a time consuming activity but I don’t want to give up because I have wonderful readers and visitors like you! Sandy you are so gracious. Thanks a million times for your friendship. Best wishes to everybody.
Liz
OMG! I really love the sound of this recipe! Amazing gazpacho, Liz. We have it on a daily basis during this scorching days… I never add any water nor bread but it’s almost identical! So glad you’re a fan of this delicious soup too 😀
Have a lovely week, dear Liz!
PS Have you ever heard of salmorejo? It’s very similar and really tasty as well. If not, I’m sure you’d love it 😉
Hey Rosa,
I am so glad you love gazpacho too! I love it because of the subtle taste. Cooked tomatoes seem to be more sour. I have just goggled salmorejo. It sounds so good and delicious. The next soup I want to try. Thanks for telling me about it. Have a great Sunday Rosa.
Liz
I love gazpacho! Unfortunately I am on doctor’s orders to cut down my tomato consumption! Imagine that. Seems it may be that I overdosed on tomatoes and berries, I’ve been having problems with my mouth and need to cut them out and see if things improve! I told her how many tomatoes I have left and she laughed. Hubby doesn’t eat them and the kids can only help so much.
Hi there Mama D,
I am sorry to hear about that. I hope your mouth will get better. What will you do with the rest of the tomatoes? Freeze them or preserve them? I eat just enough tomatoes coz store bought are not exactly cheap. Maybe you’ll distribute them to all your neighbours. I wish you a wonderful weekend!
Liz
I have been giving some away and then making sauce to freeze. With the smaller tomatoes I halve them and make a sauce in the pan with olive oil, garlic and add basil at the end. I then purée about half. I froze it. With the larger tomatoes I roasted them with olive oil and garlic, some with hot peppers from the garden, puréed it all and then froze it. I have a good stash of sauces to use as a base for pasta sauce, soups, chili, etc. I should hopefully get a few more batches to make some more. Freezing the sauce is just so much easier than canning! I save that for jams and pickles.
Hi Mama D,
I’m glad you’ll freeze them and use them at a later date. Good luck with the rest of the freezing. I hope all goes well for you! I wish you a fabulous week!
Liz
Love, love, love gazpacho this time of year so thanks for sharing! And that dash of vinegar is essential. I like to serve it with some garlic croutons to throw on top. I am definitely going to be making this soon. Kate
Hi Kate!
Thanks so much. I love gazpacho too. The taste is subtle compared to cooked tomatoes. Such a great pleasure to eat this soup, always! Enjoy the weekend.
Liz
This looks amazing! I will definitely try it, love how you wrote the recipe, easy and straightforward. Thank you!!
Thank you, Bettina. Hope you find time to try it!
Liz
I want to try this, but I’m scared my husband won’t help me eat it… looks delicious!!
Oh does he not like Gazpacho? Mine ate it without complaining. Thanks for complimenting!
Liz
I think he would try it if I made it. He says he doesn’t want cold soup… He drinks tomato juice!?!?…
Don’t tell him it’s soup. Call it a smoothie…ha ha!
Liz
Good idea! Lol! 🙂
Enjoy the rest of the week!
You too! 🙂