Cool, creamy, and zinging with fresh tomato flavor, this gazpacho is one of the things I look forward to making every year when summer rolls around. Locally grown, in season tomatoes are a thousand times better than what passes for tomatoes in our stores in the wintertime. Those may look like tomatoes, but my taste buds aren't fooled.
I used to make a chunky gazpacho that took me hours to make, peeling the tomatoes and dicing all of the vegetables by hand. It improved my knife skills, for sure, but as much as I loved it, most of the time I couldn’t be bothered..
Then I went to Spain and had pureed gazpacho, which was smooth, creamy, and the most beautiful, vibrant shade of orange. I wondered, how hard can this be?
Not hard at all, as it turns out. When I got home I did a quick search and found a recipe from the New York Times. Like a traditional gazpacho, it includes cucumbers, peppers, onions, and garlic in addition to the tomatoes. When they are blended together, the flavor is greater than the sum of the parts. Despite the creamy mouth feel, there's no cream in it. The texture is created by emulsifying the pureed vegetables with olive oil. I found other recipes that blend in bread to create the texture, and those are good too, but this one comes closest to what I had in Spain.
My version of this recipe is slightly modified to simplify the steps and ingredients, with, in my opinion, no loss of flavor. It comes together in about 10 minutes in a blender and makes enough for a crowd.
If the idea of drinking cold soup doesn't appeal to you, think of it as salsa that you eat with a spoon, or a bloody mary without the vodka 😉.
No Ordinary Fruit
Tomatoes also happen to be super healthy. They contain all the usual suspects that are found in vegetables that are really fruits – vitamin C and K, potassium and folate – as well as phyonutrients called carotenoids, including beta-carotene, lutein, and zeaxanthin.
Carotenoids are plant pigments that give tomatoes their vibrant color as well as some incredible health benefits. They are antioxidants, which protect against heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. Lutein, in particular, may be protective against prostate cancer. Along with zeaxanthin, lutein also plays a special role in eye health, filtering the harmful effects of blue light, reducing the risk of macular degeneration, and preventing cataracts.
There is a reason why tomatoes and olive oil are often combined in traditional recipes. Carotenoids are fat-soluble nutrients, which means that they can't be absorbed without eating fat. There is no fat in tomatoes, so that's where the olive oil comes in. My Italian grandmother must have known something!
Recipe Tips
This is the perfect recipe for the 'Just as Tasty Tomatoes' that they sell at my local market - not perfect in appearance, but rich in heat-of-the summer flavor. Red, green, or yellow . . . big or small . . . it doesn't matter, as long as they were picked when ripe.
The original New York Times recipe calls for putting the blended soup through a strainer or food mill, but I eliminate that step. I did it the first time and found that it was too much mess for not much difference. I have a powerful blender that does a great job of pulverizing the skins and seeds and that's definitely good enough. If your blender can't get it smooth, you might consider straining it, but if it were me I'd enjoy the texture and the extra 20 minutes gained from keeping it simple.
This recipe makes a lot, often filling my 2-quart blender. If your blender is smaller, you can easily scale it down by using fewer tomatoes and smaller cucumbers and peppers The exact proportion of vegetables doesn't really matter, so go with what you have.
If you only have a hand blender, you can make it in a deep bowl, adding the vegetables in batches.
Don’t be afraid of the amount of olive oil. Olive oil is one of the healthy fats that you should enjoy in abundance [read more about that here]. This recipe makes a lot of gazpacho, so the amount of oil per serving is about what you'd put on a caprese salad.
The gazpacho takes on the flavor of your olive oil, so use one that is tasty to you. High quality extra virgin oil can add a peppery taste, but that mellows over time. If you don't like that flavor, you can use a milder oil, or use half olive and half avocado oil.
Spicing up the soup with a jalepeno might not be traditional, but I like the kick. If you don't have a jalepeno, a pinch of cayenne or drizzle of hot sauce will do.
The sherry vinegar adds a taste of Spain, but if you don't have any, substitute red wine vinegar.
Creamy Blended Gazpacho
Adapted from The New York Times recipe, by Julia Moskin
Makes about 8 cups; approximately 8 large or 12 small servings
Ingredients
5-6 pounds tomatoes, large ones cored and cut into large chunks, cherry or grape tomatoes can be used whole
1 cucumber, peeled and cut into large chunks
1 green or red pepper (any sweet variety), cored, seeded, and cut into large chunks
1 small onion (white, yellow, sweet, or red) peeled and cut into large chunks
1/2 - 1 jalepeno pepper, cored and seeded (optional)
1 clove garlic
2 teaspoons sherry or red wine vinegar
2 teapoons salt
1/2 cup best-quality olive oil, or a combination of olive and avocado oil
1 avocado, for garnish
Instructions
Add the tomatoes to a 2-quart blender. Pulse the motor a few times to puree the big chunks and free up some room.
Add the remaining vegetables, in batches if your blender is too crowded, and pulse until they are incorporated.
Blend at high speed until very smooth, at least 2 minutes.
With the motor running, slowly drizzle in the oil. Watch the magic of emulsification as the mixture turns bright orange or deep pink. It's done when the soup is creamy, without any watery liquid present.
Season with the vinegar and salt.
Chill completely before serving. Serve in small glasses to sip, or in bowls garnished with chunks of avocado and a drizzle of olive oil.
Store leftovers in a jar in the refrigerator. If the soup starts to separate, a shake or quick stir will bring it back together.