Andalusian gazpacho
Источник фото: https://ru.123rf.com/profile_gladkov
Andalusian gazpacho is not as bright, but no less tasty than the fiery red tomato gazpacho with juice we are used to.
The Andalusian gazpacho in my photograph may surprise you with its appearance: why is it such a strange color and is it gazpacho at all? Its fundamental difference from the much more familiar tomato gazpacho is the absence of tomato juice, which gives this soup a bright red color. Andalusian gazpacho is made with water or ice, so its color is pale pink at most. Fresh tomatoes will never produce such a bright red as boiled juice. So Andalusian gazpacho in Spanish cuisine is considered related to ajoblanco, which is generally completely white.
The ratio of the amount of tomatoes, cucumber, onion, garlic, white bread and water (or ice), in principle, is completely arbitrary.
Very important: the liquid part of Andalusian gazpacho must include green pepper. You can't have red without green at all. The water at the time of preparing gazpacho should be “icy”, i.e. chilled in the refrigerator to as low a temperature as possible. An alternative is finely crushed ice. So this is a classic summer soup that is perfect for eating in the extreme heat.
Andalusian gazpacho is often served with guarnicion, a topping made from diced cucumber, tomato and pepper, which is sprinkled onto the dish while it's on the plate. A common addition to serving is pieces of fried white bread.
In the old days, preparing gazpacho began with crushing garlic with a little olive oil and day-old white bread. Today, a blender is usually used rather than a pestle.
Ингредиенты
White bread - 70 g
Ice water - 300 ml
Tomatoes - 450 g
Greenhouse cucumber - 1 pc.
Green pepper - 1 pc.
Onions - 0.5 pcs.
Garlic - 2 cloves
Olive oil - 1 tbsp.
Vinegar - 1 tbsp.
Parsley - 1 sprig
Salt, pepper - to taste
For serving:
Red pepper - 1 pc.
Tomato - 1 pc.
Small cucumber - 1 pc.
Croutons - to taste
Water - for blanching tomatoes
Рецепт
1. In the classic recipe, tomatoes should be blanched. If you don’t want to mess around, then just cut them lightly to make it easier for the blender; it won’t be able to handle whole ones.
2. Peel the onion and garlic and cut it into pieces that will not pose a problem for the blender.
3. Cut the cucumber into thick slices, pepper - as necessary, break yesterday's white bread.
4. Puree the vegetables with water, parsley and 1 tablespoon of olive oil to whatever degree you desire. You can until smooth, you can leave the vegetables in pieces - there is no hard and fast rule.
5. Season the Andalusian gazpacho with salt, pepper and 1 tablespoon of wine vinegar and put it in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour. In those days when Spanish peasants had neither refrigerators nor ice, gazpacho was aged in clay containers without glaze. This material has an interesting property: clay is porous and it “sweats.” And the evaporation of liquid from the surface of a clay vessel helps to cool it. This is the Spanish folk trick.
6. Immediately before serving, chop the guarnicion: cucumber, red pepper and tomato. The cucumber is usually peeled.
7. After the soup is poured into bowls, eaters themselves take guarnicion and pieces of fried white bread. By the way, it is not forbidden to soak bread in bowls of gazpacho; in this case, this does not contradict etiquette at all.