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Yes, it’s that time of year when the produce is bursting with ripeness and flavor, and yes, the days are growing long and hot and cooking is not appealing. And it’s true that Adam is transfixed by the sound of the food mill blitzing away, and will even interrupt his evening howling to listen. Still, it seemed a bit abrupt when out of nowhere Magda got this bee in her bonnet about making gazpacho. Something wasn’t quite right about it all, but it wasn’t until I strapped Adam on my back and headed out to our local greengrocer, Sadje-Zelenjava, and took a close look at the shopping list that I realized it was all a clever ruse to bring more shiny things into the house (I especially like how she tries to match her handwriting to mine). But before I saw through her little scheme, her soup subterfuge, we had to nail down a recipe. As has been reported once or twice before, out came the always excellent and intriguing Larousse Gastronomique.

GAZPACHO A Spanish soup, originally a laborers’ dish, made with bread and vegetables, including cucumber, tomato, onion, and red (bell) pepper. Seasoned with olive oil and garlic and sharpened with vinegar, the soup is served ice cold…Its name, of Arabic origin, means ‘soaked bread’… gazpacho originally came from Seville but there are numerous variants. In Jerez it is garnished with raw onion rings; in Malaga it is made with veal bouillon and sometimes garnished with grapes and almonds; in Cadiz it is served hot in winter; in Cordoba it is thickened with cream and maize flour (cornmeal); in Segovia it is flavoured with cumin and basil and prepared with a mayonnaise base.

What Magda threw together is based very closely on Larousse’s recipe for Seville gazpacho:

Four large, very ripe tomatoes
One and a half large cucumbers
One red bell pepper
Four cloves of garlic
Small bunch of flat-leaf parsley
Two red onions
Four tablespoons olive oil
A good glug of balsamic vinegar
Teaspoon or two sea salt
Teaspoon cayenne pepper
Bread crumbs and water

The basic technique here was to throw things into the food processor and whirrr away until a good balance between chunky and pureed was achieved. Certain steps prescribed by Larousse were followed (e.g. tomatoes peeled…) and others discarded (…but not seeded). Some were openly scorned; for example, where Larousse says the onion must be “cut into slices as thin as tissue paper”, Magda says, “fuck you!”

Notes:

  • The bread crumbs and water are added gradually at the end to get the desired consistency
  • This is more or less a doubling of the Larousse quantities, but Magda kept the garlic load-plan the same, and even though we are huge fans of the stinky bulb, it did seem a bit sharp to us. Adjust quantity to your tolerances or plan social activities accordingly
  • Since you can really taste the ingredients in this dish, use the best you can find, particularly in the tomato and olive oil departments
  • The soup needs to chill for a few hours before serving, which is nice because it means you can, too.
  • Crusty bread is a great accompaniment; Magda toasted some heavy slices with olive oil and parmesan; Larousse notes that traditional garnishes include bowls of “chopped black olives, red pepper, hard-boiled (hard-cooked) egg and croutons rubbed with garlic”. Avocado wouldn’t be bad, either.

This was quick and easy to make and kicked ass. Highly recommended while the weather’s hot and vegetables are beckoning, because unlike a diamond, gazpacho is not forever.

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