Gazpacho ~ Spain

[Twitchin Kitten]

I bought a cookbook with nothing but soups looking for some interesting recipes. I wanted to stray from the traditional and ordinary and the Middle Eastern. Although the Mid East has some interesting cold and hot soups, I knew there was much, much more to be had! So here goes with some recipes from this book!

Gazpacho

Ingredients:

1 green bell pepper, roughly chopped
1 red bell pepper, roughly chopped
1/2 cucumber, roughly chopped
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 fresh red chili, seeded and roughly chopped
3 cups roughly chopped ripe plum tomatoes
3 3/4 cups passata (strained pureed tomatoes) or Tomato Juice (look in the Spanish food aisle for passata)
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp caster sugar
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Crushed ice to garnish (optional)

Reserve a small piece of the red and green peppers. cucumber and the onion. Finely chop these and set aside for some garnish.

Process all the remaining ingredients except the ice in a blender or food processor until smooth. You may need to do this in batches.

Press the soup through a strainer into a clean glass bowl, pushing it through with a spoon to extract the maximum amount of flavor.

Adjust the seasoning and chill.
Server sprinkled with the reserved chopped veggies you set aside.
For a finishing touch, add a little crushed ice to the garnish.