More Gazpacho Recipes

More Gazpacho Recipes


By John Taylor; 28 August, 2005



Friends, I am forwarding these Gazpacho recipes at the request of Linda of Hamilton, an on again off again reader of the Badi' list. The only one of these that I have tried and tested out—insofar as it is possible for me ever to follow a recipe—is the first recipe, which I have had taped to our refrigerator door for the past few weeks. Most of the time I am not wearing my glasses anyway when I am cooking (they tend to drop off into the food) and so I can barely make out the tiny text of a recipe, so I just used this one as a reminder of what to put in, never how much; the amounts I use rough and ready guestimates. And no, we do not have any horseradish, so I have not tried that yet. I do put several extras into the blend, including lots of parsley, scads of garlic, and handfuls of fresh, sweet basil and watercress.

As for the wine in the other recipes, I do not recommend it to Baha'is; studies in recent years have found just what the Guardian said, that it does not matter if you boil, broil, bake or nuke the food, if alcohol goes in it stays in. The idea that it somehow boils away is an old wives tale. One old friend, Isabella, who is a Catholic, once offered to take the sin upon her head for the wine she had put into a meal she served me. I ate it out of politeness and hunger, but I have often wondered at that; is it possible to take someone's sin on your head just by saying it? If so, there are some prize looking characters slouching around the streets of Dunnville that I would love to dump some sin on their heads, and believe me, I have more than enough to go around, including what my sinful mind just came up with.

As for the wine vinegar, I honestly have no idea if that counts as booze or not. Maybe a reader can enlighten us. This latest batch has been zested up by a half a hot pepper that I purchased for a quarter at the Dunnville market.

This time I will try an experiment and include a photo with this mail out. It is a shot of the chunky Gazpacho from the second recipe, which I found in July's Reader's Digest. Please let me know if the extra graphical data chokes your mailbox or causes any other problems. If I hear nothing from you, I will assume that I can safely include pictures in future mail outs.

Gazpacho; From Don't Eat Your Heart Out, p. 307 (taped to refrigerator)

1 fresh ripe tomato
1 green pepper
3 stalks celery
1 cucumber
1 small onion
3 tablespoons parsley flakes
4 green onions
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons safflower oil
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt

6 cups canned tomatoes, chopped 1/4 teaspoon horseradish
Combine all ingredients except horseradish; puree in blender. Chill at least 3 hours. Just before serving, stir in horseradish.

Thick and Zesty Gazpacho, serves 6; from Low Fat Living, by R.K. Cooper, p. 268

This meal has lots of flavor. You can make the soup ahead of time and keep it refrigerated, and the biscuits are quick and easy to make. Serve two biscuits with a bowl of soup. Take to a picnic by chilling and pouring into a wide mouthed thermos. Serves six. Garnish with croutons and chopped chives. Preparation time 15 to 20 minutes.
Ingredients
4 cups tomato juice or vegetable juice cocktail
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 cucumber, chopped
2  tomatoes, finely chopped
1 1/2 cups cooked chick peas or 1 + cups canned chick-peas, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup chopped roasted red peppers or pimentos
2 large cloves garlic, minced parsley
1/3 teaspoon minced fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon honey or sugar
1 tablespoon minced fresh basil or 1 tablespoon dried
1 tablespoon minced fresh dill or 1 tablespoon dried
1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
Freshly ground black pepper
Hot pepper sauce
6 tablespoons non-fat sour cream or yogurt
Preparation time 15-20 Minutes, chilling time: 1-2 hours or more
In a large bowl, mix the tomato juice or vegetable juice cocktail, onions, green peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, chick-peas and red peppers or pimentos.
Add the garlic, vinegar, parsley, cilantro, oil, honey or sugar, basil, dill, tarragon, thyme, cumin, and black pepper and hot pepper sauce to taste.
Mix well.
Chill for 1 to 2 hours or more.

Serve in 6 individual bowls. Top each serving with 1 tablespoon of the sour cream or yogurt.


Chunky Gazpacho, with Garlicky Croutons; from an advertising supplement to Readers Digest, July 2005


2 garlic cloves, peeled
4 slices French bread (1 in / 2.5 cm thick) 1 tsp (5 ml) pepper
1/2 tsp(2 ml) salt
1/2 cup (125 ml) coarsely chopped red onion
1 can (28 oz / 875 g) no-salt-added tomatoes
1/4 cup (60 ml) seasoned dry bread crumbs 1/4 cup (60 ml) chopped parsley
3 tbsp (45 ml) red wine vinegar
1 tbsp (15 ml) olive oil
2 medium cucumbers, peeled and chopped
2 medium green bell peppers, chopped
2 medium red bell peppers, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees F (180C). Cut one garlic clove in half and rub cut sides on inside of large bowl and on both sides of bread slices. Tear bread into inch (2.5 cm) pieces. Put in the large bowl and lightly coat with nonstick cooking spray. Sprinkle with 1/2 tsp (2 ml) pepper and 1/4 tsp (1 ml) salt. Toss to coat and transfer to a baking sheet. Bake croutons until golden, about 15 minutes. Cool completely.
Pulse onion and remaining garlic in food processor or blender until finely chopped. Add half of tomatoes and all their juice; puree. Add bread crumbs, parsley, vinegar, oil, and remaining pepper and salt. Process just until blended and pour into large non-reactive bowl.
Chop remaining tomatoes. Stir into tomato mixture with half of chopped cucumbers and half of green and red peppers. Refrigerate until chilled, 1 hour. Ladle into bowls and top with remaining cucumber, green and red peppers, and croutons. Makes 4 servings.

Gazpacho from Bee Nilson, Bee's Blender Book, p. 38; Quantities for 8

A Spanish cold soup of which there are many different regional recipes

1 1/2 pint canned tomato juice (750 ml)
1 lb cucumber (1/2 kg or 1 large)
Sugar, salt and pepper to taste
2 Tbs olive oil
Pinch dried garlic
4 Tbs wine vinegar
2 Tbs red wine

Peel the cucumber and cut it in small pieces. Blend it smooth with a little of the tomato juice. Pour in a bowl and add the other ingredients. Cover and chill.
Parsley
Blend dry and use to garnish the soup.


Gazpacho; From Soups and Starters by Rosemary Wadey, p. 2; serves four

Preparation time 15 minutes, plus cooling

Ingredients

1/2 cucumber, coarsely grated
1/2 small green pepper, seeded and finely chopped
450 g or 1 pound tomatoes, skinned
1/2 onion, peeled
1-2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
3 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1-2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons tomato puree
450 ml or 3/4 pint tomato juice
salt
freshly ground black pepper

Garnish

Thinly sliced onion rings
Chopped green pepper
Fried croutons

Place the cucumber in a bowl with the green pepper.

Liquidize or puree in a food processor the tomatoes, onion and garlic together with the oil, vinegar, lemon juice and tomato puree.
Pour the tomato mixture over the cucumber and green pepper, add the tomato juice and mix well. Season to taste with salt and pepper, cover and chill thoroughly.
Ladle the soup into bowls. Place the onion, pepper and crouton garnishes in individual bowls and hand separately.
Garlic bread or crusty bread and butter make a good accompaniment.

Gazpacho, Source unknown, serves 6

Ingredients

1 cucumber, unpeeled, seeded and diced
1 onion, chopped
1 green pepper, seeded and cut into pieces
6 fresh tomatoes, peeled and cut up
2 cloves garlic
4 tablespoons tarragon wine vinegar
1 1/2 cups stock (canned, if necessary)
1/2 cup red wine
1/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste.

Combine all ingredients in a blender jar. Whirl till ingredients are smooth. It will probably be necessary to do this in 2 or 3 operations. Taste for seasoning and correct. Place in refrigerator and chill very well. Serve as cold as possible and pass small dishes of the following garnitures to be added to the soup by each individual.
Peeled, seeded, diced cucumber
Finely chopped onion
Seeded, diced green pepper
Garlic seasoned croutons


--
John Taylor

badijet@gmail.com