Keeping It Cool With Summer Tomato Gazpacho

Happy August, friends and neighbors. We are deep into summer now, and the weather is just great. Especially because we finally took the plunge and had central air installed here at the casa. I don’t want to flex on anyone too hard, but I am litchurally VIBING no matter what room I’m in now. It is the best.

Just because it’s cooler inside doesn’t mean it’s not hot outside, though. The August summer temps mean tomato season is in full swing. So, take a look at the equation on the board: tomato season + hot weather = gazpacho.

There is something wonderful about opening up your fridge on hot summer’s afternoon and seeing a cool pitcher of gazpacho waiting there for you. It’s refreshing and makes you feel good after you have some, because of all those vegetables or whatever.

I like my gazpacho smooth, like smooth enough that I could drink it if I wanted to. Once again, I’m here to praise the power of the Vitamix blender. This bad boy gets your gazpacho so smooth you could sip it through a straw. No worries if you have a less powerful blender, though. Maybe silky-smooth gazpacho isn’t your thing? That’s fine, this recipe is still delicious and refreshing, no matter what consistency you get it to.

Points of order? Get the absolute best tomatoes you can get your hands on. Get them local, and get them about to burst with juice. The better the tomato, the better the gazpacho.

After that, it’s just about blending it all up, tasting for seasoning and letting it all chill down nice and cold while you prepare the garnishes. They’re all optional, by the way, so if you just want a no-fuss bowl (or glass) of gazpacho, then by all means, do you. But if you want your “gazpatch” dressed to impress, well then, a little garnish can go a long way. 

Summer Tomato Gazpacho

Ingredients:

For the Soup

• 10-11 Roma or Heirloom tomatoes, whatever is ripest and juiciest
• 1 cucumber or 2 baby cucumbers
• 1 green pepper
• 2 cloves of garlic, peeled
• 30 ml (2 TBSP) sherry vinegar
• 180 ml (3/4 cup) high-quality extra virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt, to taste

For the Garnish

• 1-2 slices white bread, crusts removed, cut into cubes
• 6-8 cherry tomatoes
• ½ cucumber or 1 baby cucumber
• ¼ red onion, peeled
• 1 green onion, green part only, or a few chives
• High quality extra virgin olive oil, as needed

Method:

1. Cut the cores out of the tomatoes. Quarter them, then roughly chop the quarters. Place the tomatoes into the blender.
2. Peel the cucumber and chop it roughly. Place into the blender.
3. Halve the green pepper, then remove the core and seeds. Chop roughly and place into the blender.
4. Add the garlic cloves, sherry vinegar and 120 ml (1/2 cup) of water into the blender. Secure the top, and turn the blender on to its lowest setting.
5. Allow at least half of the blender contents to be liquified, then gradually turn the blender up to max speed. Blend for about 1 minute. The mixture should be smooth, slightly thickened and bright pink, due to the oxygen that the blender has incorporated.
6. Taste for seasoning. If your tomatoes are very sweet, you may need to add more vinegar. Add the olive oil and salt, then blend 30 seconds more to combine. Taste again, adjust seasoning again if needed, then strain the gazpacho through a fine-mesh strainer into a jug or pitcher. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to allow flavours to mingle.
7. As the gazpacho chills, prepare the garnishes. In a heavy bottomed skillet or cast-iron pan, heat a film of olive oil over medium heat. Once shimmering, add the bread cubes to the pan and fry about 2-3 minutes per side until golden brown. You don’t need to do every side, this isn’t a photo shoot. Drain the croutons on paper towels and set aside.
8. Slice the cherry tomatoes into halves or quarters if large. Peel the cucumber and cut into small dice. Cut the red onion into small dice. Chop the green onion or chives into thin rings.
9. Once the gazpacho is sufficiently chilled, pour or ladle into small bowls, garnishing each with some croutons, cherry tomato, cucumber, red onion and chive or green onion. Drizzle a couple of rings of olive oil onto each bowl of soup and serve immediately.

That’s it. That’s all. There’s really nothing to it, but a cold bowl of gazpacho is so great on a hot summer’s day. The soup keeps for 3-4 days, but you’ll have trouble keeping it around that long. If you want to use this as a sauce, say for some chilled shellfish, you could blend in some breadcrumbs to thicken it and give it just a bit more body. But like I said earlier, I prefer to be able to drink my gazpacho if I so choose. Let me know in the comments or in an email if you enjoyed this recipe, or what your favorite tomato season dishes are!