I've had pureed gazpachos before that were pureed and free of chunky vegetables, but none so enticing as this version that friends Ken and Kim served the other night as a small-plate soup and salad course paired with a single stack of tomato caprese (fresh mozzarella sandwiched between two tomatoes with basil leaf). I just loved it. The recipe, from Epicurious, is below and it's followed by their comments about the deviations they made, all of which I'd reccomend to duplicate their result. Most interesting is the substitution of garam masala for cumin. I would not have guessed it--the soup did not taste Indian or not-Spanish, just marvelously complex. Highly reccomended!
Classic Andalusian Gazpacho
Gourmet | August 2002
Adapted from El Faro, Cádiz, Spain
yield: Makes 4 servings
active time: 30 minutes
total time: 3 1/2 hours
Gazpacho "El Faro"
Ingredients
• 1 (2-inch-long) piece baguette, crust discarded
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 tablespoons Sherry vinegar (preferably "reserva"), or to taste
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin (optional)
• 2 1/2 lb ripe tomatoes, cored and quartered
• 1/2 cup mild extra-virgin olive oil (preferably Andalusian hojiblanca)
• Garnish: finely chopped red and green bell peppers
Preparation
Soak bread in 1/2 cup water 1 minute, then squeeze dry, discarding soaking water.
Mash garlic to a paste with salt using a mortar and pestle (or mince and mash with a large knife). Blend garlic paste, bread, 2 tablespoons vinegar, sugar, cumin, and half of tomatoes in a food processor until tomatoes are very finely chopped. Add remaining tomatoes with motor running and, when very finely chopped, gradually add oil in a slow stream, blending until as smooth as possible, about 1 minute.
Force soup through a sieve into a bowl, pressing firmly on solids. Discard solids.
Transfer to a glass container and chill, covered, until cold, about 3 hours. Season with salt and vinegar before serving.
Jenise,
I have attached the Gazpacho recipe from Epicurious.
I made the following changes.
1. Add one extra clove of garlic
2. Substitute “garam masala” for “cumin” which I find provides a more complex flavor.
I placed all ingredients in a high powered blender and mixed the soup for one minute. After putting mixture through a fine sieve I let the soup rest overnight. The next day I added more strained tomato pulp that had been separately processed in the blender (I think almost two cups) until the mixture had the right taste as I found it was a little too spicy and garlicky with the proportions from the recipe.