Gaspacho – an icy (in the literal sense of the word) Spanish vegetable soup originally from Andalusia. The main ingredients of this soup are tomatoes, peppers, onions, cucumbers, olive oil and bread.
Despite the fact that in the mind of the man in the street this soup is directly associated with tomatoes, in the original version they were absent. They did not put tomatoes in gazpacho for a very simple reason – by the time the dish was invented, they had not yet been brought to Europe.
And already in the 16th century, tomatoes imported by Christopher Columbus added a soup of bright taste, color and popularity.
At that time, Spanish gazpacho was very much like the Russian aura – a liquid cold dish made from bread, kvass and vegetables. Unlike meat, there was no meat in Tür. But if very fresh bread was selected for the Türi, then practical Spanish for gazpacho would have had bread of a week ago. Stale bread warmed up with garlic, ice water, olive oil and wine vinegar.
As it often happens, there is no single version of the origin of the name of the soup. However, more often they tend to Muslim influence: the name “gazpacho” goes back to the Arabic word meaning “soaked bread”. Outside of Andalusia the soup became famous thanks to Eugenia Montijo, a desperate adventurer and part-time wife of the French Emperor Napoleon III. The rather modest ingredients of the soup made it democratic and affordable for ordinary workers and farmers.
For gazpacho will need :
- 400 grams of tomatoes;
- 1 large cucumber;
- 1 onion;
- 1 red sweet pepper;
- 1 large piece of white bread;
- 1-2 tbsp. l. wine vinegar;
- cold water;
- salt;
- pepper.
Preparing gazpacho
In ancient times, Spanish women did not have blenders and combines, so bread with vegetables was milled with a mortar and pestle or with just hands. If you prefer a homogeneous creamy mass – use a blender, if you like to grind the pieces – finely chop all the ingredients.
Chop the garlic and salt. Stale bread rid of crusts, dip for a couple of seconds in cold water, then wring out. In gazpacho not so many components, most importantly – tomatoes. They should be large, fleshy and juicy. You can add a few canned tomatoes to taste (but not salted, but in your own juice).
Tomatoes are scalded with boiling water, then dip into cold water, remove the skin and cut into small cubes. Also chop the onion, cucumber and pepper. Leave some vegetables for garnish, and add the rest to the combine along with bread, butter and garlic (if desired, add a couple of canned tomatoes) and chop until a puree state. If this leaves small pieces – it’s okay. Add to the resulting puree wine vinegar, salt, pepper and cold boiled water (the amount of water depends on personal preferences) and put in the refrigerator for an hour.
In Spain gazpacho is decorated with beautifully sliced pieces of vegetables and croutons (crispy bits of dried bread).
Serve the soup in small plates garnish – diced tomatoes and cucumbers, finely chopped onion and croutons.
If you are so razmorilo from the heat that you flatly refuse to cook, you can cool with gaspacho in the institutions of our city. In the restaurant “Mexico” 350 g of ice soup costs 180 rubles, in the cafe “Perchini” 300 g will cost 149 rubles. In News-Café, two kinds of gazpacho are served: a 200-gram serving with cucumber and mint costs 180 rubles, and with crab meat – 390.
