Creamy Gazpacho
The creaminess refers in this instance to the texture of this delightful cold soup and not to the presence of cream–there is none in it.
For years I've waned to try making gazpacho. For years Isaac said he didn't really care much for gazpacho. Then, he's the one to point out this recipe in Cook's Illustrated and suggest that we might try it. I didn't argue. What follows is the way we made it, which varies slightly from the original recipe. It was amazingly refined and quite well balanced in taste.
===== Creamy Gazpacho =====
- 3 pounds (about 6) ripe tomatoes, cored
- 1 small cucumber, peeled, halved, and seeded
- 1 medium bell pepper, halved, cored, and seeded (green or red bell peppers contribute different tastes; both are good)
- 1 small red onion, peeled and halved
- 2 medium garlic cloves, peeled and quartered
- Kosher salt
- 1 slice good-quality white bread, crust removed, torn into 1-inch pieces
- 0.5 cups extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
- Puree mixture: roughly chop 2 pounds of the tomatoes, half the cucumber, half the bell pepper, and half the onion and put it all in a large bowl along with the garlic. Add 1.5 teaspoons salt, toss to combine. Set aside.
- Garnish mixture: cut remaining tomatoes, cucumber, and pepper into 0.25-inch dice. Mince remaining onion and add to vegetables in a bowl. Toss with 0.5 teaspoon salt, then transfer to a strainer. Place the strainer over a bowl to catch juices. Set aside for 1 hour.
- Move garnish mixture to a bowl and set aside. Add bread pieces to the liquid captured below the strainer; there should be about 0.25 cup of liquid. Soak for about a minute then add the bread and remaining soaking liquid to the puree mixture.
- Put half the puree mixture in a food processor (steel blade) and process until smooth. With processor running drizzle in half the olive oil very slowly (to emulsify) and process until very smooth. Strain through a fine strainer into a large bowl; press the solids in the strainer with a wooden spoon to get all the liquid possible through the strainer. Repeat with the remaining half of the puree mixture.
- Stir half the garnish mixture into the soup and chill for at least 2 hours–overnight is better.
- Serve the soup cold, garnished with the rest of the garnish mixture.
Adapted from J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, "Introducing Creamy Gazpacho", Cook's Illustrated, Number 105 (July / Aiugust 2010), p. 10.