When I made my cold cucumber soup not too long ago, Dylan suggested that I needed to try gazpacho…
Funny thing is, I had been planning on doing exactly that, despite me not being a huge fan of cold soup. The main problem that I have with gazpacho is that most recipes call for tomato juice, and I don’t care for tomato juice. I find it always tastes like metal and, well, quite frankly, if I’m going to have a cold, fresh tomato soup, well, I’d like it to be made with fresh tomatoes.
Also, if you look up gazpacho in the dictionary, this is what you will find:
noun Spanish Cookery
`A chilled soup made with chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, peppers, garlic, oil, vinegar and herbs
Or something very similar, anyway.
Nowhere do they mention tomato juice!
Plus, after reading a few articles on the soup, I understand that traditional gazpacho is in fact some kind of a soup salad and should have a certain amount of soaked stale bread added to it.
Soaked.Stale.Bread. Not for me, thank you!
So anyway, Dylan’s comment sent me searching again, on the quest to find the perfect gazpacho recipe. I’m sorry to report that I haven’t found one. I came really close, though.
This is the one I chose to use as a base to work with. Of course, it did call for tomato juice. And of course, I omitted it…
The resulting soup was very tasty and refreshing AND it didn’t have a metal aftertaste!
A word of warning: this recipe is about all the ingredients that my 11 cup food processor could handle. I think one more tomato, and the soup would’ve spilled all over the place.
There, I said it… now I’m off the hook! 
INGREDIENTS
(serves 2-4)
Slightly Adapted from SimplyRecipes
- 3 large ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped
- 1 small red onion, chopped
- ½ seedless cucumber, peeled and chopped
- ½ yellow bell pepper, seeded and chopped
- 1 stalk celery, chopped
- ¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped
- 1 green onion, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- ¼ cup white wine vinegar
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
- ½ tsp Sambal Oelek
- ¼ tsp ground black pepper
- 2 cups water
Garnish
- 0% fat plain greek yogurt
- pumpkin seeds
- chopped fresh basil
INSTRUCTIONS
- Combine all ingredients in bowl of food processor. Blend to desired consistency.
- Place in non-metal, non-reactive storage container, cover tightly and refrigerate overnight, allowing flavors to blend.
- Garnish with yogurt, pumpkin seeds and chopped basil
Great ingredients in yours! I know what you mean about the metal taste. I can my own tomatoes to get away from it too, but fresh is always better. Plus, when fresh tomatoes are at their best, why wouldn’t you want to use them? I’ve been wanting to try gazpacho for a while now, and this looks great. Can’t wait to try it!
Looks truly delicious, filling and healthy too! And I love, love, love pepitas with anything Spanish or southwest, so you got me there!
I know the metal taste you talking bout, always felt the same for tomatoes anyway this looks really good. Definitely a must try.
Hey, my Gazpacho recipe doesn’t call for tomato juice, (it’s only optional). http://www.anjasfood4thought.com/2009/09/gazpacho-cold-vegetable-soup.html
I also used the Simply Recipes recipe as a base, but omitted the vinegar (I found it quite overwhelming) and also reduced the raw onion. If you keep that soup overnight, the onion just takes over, I find.
Funny, I didn’t find that the onion took over. I used a very small amount of red onion, though. I’m not a huge fan of raw onions… Your version looks spectacular Anja, as do all your recipes!
I am not a big gazpacho lover… for all the reasons you listed. This looks like a gazpacho even I would enjoy!
Lovely and Delicious!!! So fresh and healthy, would love to eat this gazpacho anytime….Yum.
Wow, that looks delcious…and the photos are fabulous! I can’t wait to try this recipe!
I always cringe when I see tomato juice in a gazpacho recipe! If you have good tomatoes, there is just no need for the extra juice. I lived in Spain for a while, and this is how I was taught to make it (sans juice and bread): http://www.theworldinmykitchen.com/2009/08/gazpacho-perfect-summer-soup.html. My five year old begs for this soup daily in the summer–it’s so simple to make and really only has a few ingredients.
Your version looks super yummy Mindy! Sans juice and sans bread equals great potential of me trying it!
Who came up with the idea of putting bread IN the soup anyway? I much better enjoy mine WITH my soup!
Hola, Sonia…, Soy Mere y soy de España, quiero comentanter que el gazpzcho que has preparado, tiene una presentación espectacular, y te prometo que lo preparare algún dia tal y como lo has preparado tu, pero me tomo la libertad, despues de haber leido los comentarios en tu blog sobre el gazpacho, de dejarte el enlance para que puedas ver de como de hace el autentico gazpacho español, queria aclarar que en España no se utiliza el jugo de tomate, se utilizan los tomates frescos, ya que aquí hay una gran cantidad de ellos y más ahora que es la temporada……. Espero que lo prepares algún día y me comentes que tal te ha quedado……..
http://mere-misrecetasdecocina.blogspot.com/2011/05/gazpacho.html
un saludo.
Mere, thank you so much for your kind words. Coming from a true “regional”, that is truly one heck of a compliment. I would really love to give your version a try, unfortunately, my Spanish isn’t all that good, and a few details elude me… so there is a big chance that I’d only end up totally ruining it! Maybe my daughter could help though, her Spanish is much better than mine! If I ever do give it go, I will let you know for sure!
This looks fantastic! Love the photos, gorgeous!
I completely agree, I feel the exact same way about tomato juice!!! I’ve had a similar gazpacho at a restaurant that I keep meaning to try and recreate – yours looks SO good, I need to give this a go! This is the perfect summer dish
Absolutely beautiful! Love the look and sound of this soup salad
Thanks for sharing!
Hello ! We love your recipe and your food pictures, we will be more than excited if you could submit it to our site. Thanks