Prep Time: 20 minutes
Chill: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes
Yield: 4 Servings
Ingredients:
- 6 oz (175 gr) stale French-style bread
- 3 large firm tomatoes
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 long sweet green pepper, (Italian or Anaheim)
- 1-2 tsp salt
- 4 oz (125 ml) olive oil
- 16 oz (500 ml) cold water
- 1/2 yellow or white onion
- 2 oz red wine vinegar
- hard boiled egg, chopped (optional)
Preparation:
Be sure to use stale bread for this recipe, so that it does not fall apart once moistened.
Cut off hard crust from bread and cut into cubes. Soak the bread in a small amount of water to soften. Remove and gently “squeeze” out excess water.
Peel the tomatoes, then chop into small cubes.
Tip: An easy way to peel tomatoes is to dip in boiling water. First, boil water in a medium saucepan. As soon as water boils, turn off heat and place the tomatoes into the hot water for 1 minute. Carefully remove hot tomatoes. The skin will rub off easily.
Finely chop the onion. Place tomatoes and onions in refrigerator to chill.
Peel the garlic cloves, then cut into quarters and place in a food processor (or tall cup if using a stick blender). Add 1 teaspoon salt and blend until the garlic and salt make a paste. Rinse the pepper, remove the stem and seeds. Cut into pieces and add to the garlic. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil while blending. Then, slowly pour in half of the cold water.
Add the vinegar and the rest of the cold water to the pepper and garlic mixture and mix well. Adjust vinegar and salt to taste. Chill in refrigerator for 1 hour.
When ready to serve, mix soup if separated. Pour into 4 individual bowls. Sprinkle tomatoes, onions and bread in each bowl. Add chopped egg and serve.
Shortcut to Chilling the Soup: Place ice and water in a large bowl or pot and place in sink. Put the bowl or glass blender containing gazpacho into the ice water. Stir the gazpacho to ensure it cools evenly.
