In Spain, the vegetables for this chilled soup are traditionally warmed in the summer sun, to release their flavors. It is also common to season the soup with a little of the famed local smoked paprika. Serve the gazpacho with Garlic Toasts.
Recipe Courtesy of Williams-Sonoma. Adapted from Williams-Sonoma, “Entertaining”, by George Dolese (Oxmoor House, 2004).
Ingredients
- 2 cups young balsamic vinegar
- 2 pounds ripe tomatoes
- 1 English (hothouse) cucumber
- 1 red onion
- 1 yellow bell pepper
- 1 red bell pepper
- 3 slices day-old sourdough French bread, crusts removed and torn
- 3 cups tomato juice
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 3 cups vegetable broth
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for garnish
- 1 tablespoon mild smoked Spanish paprika (pimenton de La Vera)
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
- 2 tablespoons finely shredded fresh cilantro
- 2 tablespoons finely shredded fresh mint
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh lemon zest
Preparation
- 1 Pour the vinegar into a small saucepan and place over low heat. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook until reduced to 1/2 cup, about 1 1/2 hours. The vinegar will have become syrupy. Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature. Transfer the syrup to a small bowl, cover and refrigerate until ready to use. For this recipe, you will need 2 tablespoons plus more for drizzling; reserve the remainder for another use. (The balsamic syrup will keep, tightly capped, for up to 1 month.)
- 2 Peel, seed and finely chop the tomatoes and cucumber. Finely chop the onion. Seed and finely chop the bell peppers. In a large, nonreactive bowl, combine the bread slices and 1/2 cup of the tomato juice and let stand for 10 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, cucumber, onion, yellow and red bell peppers, garlic, broth, the remaining 2 1/2 cups tomato juice, the 2 tablespoons balsamic syrup, the paprika and cumin, mixing well. Season with salt and pepper. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature for 1 hour to blend the flavors.
- 3 Transfer 4 cups of the tomato mixture to a blender and process until smooth. Return the pureed mixture to the bowl, stirring well. Cover and refrigerate until chilled, at least 4 hours or up to 24 hours.
- 4 When ready to serve, in a small bowl, stir together the cilantro, mint and lemon zest. Ladle the soup into chilled bowls and sprinkle each serving with an equal amount of the shredded herb mixture. Drizzle a little olive oil and balsamic syrup over each serving.
- 5 Serves 6.
