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photos thanks to google images[blank]
May in France is the month of long weekends, bank holidays,family get-togethers with the inevitable never-ending meals.
It is also the time of year when summer is looming large and we are glad to have put heavy winter meals behind us. So what sort of thing do we like to serve at a spring family reunion?
One of our favourite summer dishes is a gazpacho. More spanish than French, but easy to prepare and popular with most people.
No cooking required but definitely need a mixer. I love this dish because it is healthy, quick to prepare providing you start the day before, bright in colour and infinitely adaptable.
I have experimented with quite a few combinations of ingredients, but here is this year’s favourite. Quantities are for 4-6 people.
Cut up 4-6 large ripe tomatoes, an onion (I prefer red) a clove of garlic, a red pepper, a cucumber (peeled) and a few sprigs of chives. Put them in a bowl with a pinch of salt and a pinch of sugar and leave in the fridge overnight, or for at least 6 hours.  Put about 300 grammes of white bread into a bowl with enough water to half cover.
When you are ready to mix, squeeze the water out of the bread and throw it into the mixer along with all the prepared vegetables. Start whizzing, and as it comes together trickle olive oil into the mixture. You will add at least 100ml of oilive oil, so make sure it is a good quality oil.
Adjust the seasoning, you can add some tabasco and you may need some more salt and leave in the fridge until you are ready to eat.
This soup looks spectacular served in individual portions, maybe with some toasted croutons, personally we like a little grilled chorizo sausage crumbled over the top!
Bon appetit mes amis![blank][blank]
photos thanks to google images[blank]
31 comments
Very tempting, Sharon; just added to my Tumblr to remind me to assemble the ingredients for it!
May is the month of fresh green in our Plain area of the world.We have plenty of allium ursium, asparagus(a little less) fresh spinach or sorrel, doing almost the same way as you do.I always leave some unmixed part as to have some to show the original vegetable on top of the soup.
Your ingredients look very tasty.Regards from the Great Hungarian Plain.Dorka http://www.dorottyaudvar.co.hu
i'll have to try your recipe…i've never made it w/bread! yum…waiting for home-grown tomatoes!
Looks so yummy! I will definitely try this. Merci!
Mmmmm – sounds delicious! I particularly like the idea of adding a bit of chorizio at the end – yummy!
Paula x
My mum loves gazpacho, have bookmarked this so I can try out your delicious sounding recipe sometime. Thank you!
Thanks for sharing your gazpacho tips and tricks. It will most certainly be tried this year. It looks delicious!
Dear Sharon,
I grew up loathing Gazpacho…"Gazpacho" being my definitively-NOT-kitchen-oriented grandmother's go-to dish once the weather turned hot each year (which it does to a remarkable degree in Tennessee and Mississippi). Her version involved cans of V-8 juice, more cans of tomatoes, and a bottle of Kraft-brand "Italian Salad Dressing". Don't ask me why a woman with a quarter-acre vegetable garden insisted on canned tomatoes. Fresh tomatoes were eaten only on tomato sandwiches…with Kraft mayonaisse. She must have owned stock in that company.
That aside?..Herve and I have spent the past eight Mays in Andalusia (Cordoba, Granada, and Ronda), where, even by late May it's so hot that, come mid-day, all you WANT is a chilled soup.
I make huge batches of it here nowadays (it freezes wonderfully). Someday, try adding 2 or 3 tablespoons of a good Sherry Vinegar to your recipe. doing so really livens up gazpacho.
An equally wonderful (healthy, fantastically simple to make) cold soup is Ajo Blanco. Basically, it's a cold, "white" gazpacho made with pulverized almonds, garlic, bread, and water. I know; it doesn't sound terribly inspiring….but it is. Andalusians eat it as often as they eat gazpacho.
Here's the link to a good recipe on the web:
https://www.thepauperedchef.com/2010/05/discovering-white-gazpacho.html
thanks as ever,
David Terry
http://www.davidterryart.com
These look delicious healthy and very pretty
You're right! It does look good. I'm not much of a cook but seeing all these surely made me want to be one.
This soup will forever ALWAYS remind me of my Mum…………she made it all the time.
It can be a very delicious soup indeed.
I've never tried Gazpacho. I love the mix of vegetables that you use but don't know if I would like it cold? I guess it would sort of be like V8 juice (a tomato juice) which is served cold instead of vegetables.
hmmm Gazpacho is one of my favorites + This recipe look divine. Thanks xxpeggybraswelldesign.com
I love making gazpacho in summer, I rarely use the bread . I am a lazy cook but the tastes are so wonderful all together, it never seems to matter 🙂
besitos from the bottom of the world where winter is creeping in~
Hi, this sounds delish! We also have summer coming here in California with veggies and flowers blooming, especially the tomatoes! I've heard of friends mention how they love the taste of gazpacho but I've never tasted it myself. I love the combo of veggies and will definitely be making this. I'd love if you'd share you're recipe at my Frugal Treasures Tuesday party. : )
Hi Sharon,
Oh boy this looks and sounds fabulous.
We love Gazpacho, and will definitely try your recipe. Thank you so much for sharing.
Hope you have a lovely day.
Lizx
Hi Sharon…..I love a traditional gazpacho…..although last night I had white grape gazpacho for the first time…..I may never revert back to the old favorite.
have a great day.
Jo
Thanks so much for sharing your recipe for gazpacho, one of my all time favorites for summer! I've never had it with chorizo…that sounds yummy and interesting. Will add a lovely texture. This weekend, we start celebrating summer over the long Memorial Day weekend. Will be hot, so gazpacho is perfect!! Cheers from DC!
Loi
this looks just wonderful! what a gorgeous color, too!
You've made gazpacho look delicious; I've never had the courage to try it, as cold soup never seemed appetizing to me. Thank you for the suggestion/inspiration (and, might I say, I love hearing what other bloggers say, such as the interesting Mr. David Terry!). My immediate challenge is to translate what 300 grammes of white bread equates to in measurements my cooking-challenged brain can handle; an American, you know…I never learned about grams! (You wouldn't have wanted to travel with me in Europe, in the days when foreign currency was not a Euro; I was always hopelessly confused, country to country, math not being my strong suit!)
I think I worked it out that 300 grams of white bread, if it was a "typical" store-bought loaf from a conventional American grocery store, would be about ten slices, or half of a loaf. I realize you're probably working off a scrumptious baguette from your own oven or an amazing neighborhood boulangerie.
Thank you for the recipe. Sounds(and looks)delicious and healthy! Will have to try it soon. Is this how gazpacho served in your area?
Also, do you have any more cold soup recipes to share? I would love to hear from you 🙂
I live for gazpacho in warm and hot weather, and since I'm married to a Catalan chef it's always around in ample supply! You might consider adding some red and yellow peppers as well, and to make it truly authentic and give it that added extra, some red wine vinegar. Actually, I find the vinegar indispensable – it'll quench your thirst and have you begging for more. Trust me! Maureen from Vienna, Austria P.S. I LOVE your blog 🙂
Yes thank you. On the list to make this weekend now – despite the cold and wet outside I am going to make this! Bon appĂ©tit ! Francesca
Glad I didn't miss this entirely as it is giving me the kick in the butt to make my own da*n gazpacho!! Especially as it is that easy, I have no excuse. I love David Terry's "white" recipe too…MMM….
For those looking for more "cold soup" recipes?…simply google "cold soup recipes". I did so yesterday morning and was really surprised by the variety and quality of available recipes.
My favorites (which I've made a few times during the past year) are some of the Vietnamese and Thai soups (just google those terms). They're usually low-to-no-fat, not at all "heavy", and can be served hot or cold. Best of all (if, like me, you happen to be vain), your guests will THINK the soup is a dauntingly complex work of culinary expertise. Actually, they're all (or at least mostly) quite simple (if very good) and easy to make.
Then, there's always vichysoisse (basically, just cold potato & leek soup). folks LOVE this in the Summer. Julia Child (in "the Way to Cook) has a recipe/technique that allows you to avoid the seven gallons or so of extra-heavy cream; I expect someone on the web has replicated that low-fat version.
In any case, we live on cold soups in this household every Summer (bascially, we eat as though we were on a three-month picnic)…soup, salad, bread, and cold, two-lemon roast chicken. The bonus is that these are infinitely variable. It's a particularly attractive menu if, like me, at least half of your friends/guests are elderly (and on restricted diets), vegetarians, Atkins-Diet-disciples, diabetic, etcetera.
Like Sharon, I simply put out small bowls of various garnishes (charcuterie, cheese, etc), and folks can adapt their own soup as they please. This makes everything MUCH simpler and enjoyable for everyone.
P.S. everyone should learn how to make another life-saver….simple, rustic, French country-pate. They're not at all difficult. with cold soup, a sald, and some bread…..you've got a complete meal for guests.
Level best as ever,
David Terry
http://www.davidterryart.com
Love cold soup – and these look especially nice in lovely glass bowl and dressed with chorizo.
Dear Sharon
I'm an avid but silent reader of your blog, which I find so inspiring and stylish. I love it but hand't wrote any comment until now.
I live in the cold Cantabric Coast in the North of Spain, actually quite close to the French border. As you will imagine, Gazpacho is not a traditional dish over here although we have it regularly when the weather starts to warm up.
I got the recipe from a friend of mine who lives in the south and used to cook it myself as it is not difficult at all. But must admit that I find "Alvalle" canned gazpacho nearly as tasty as the home-made one so each time more we have this one, specially during the week when we arrive late at home. It has nothing to do with other ready meals or gazpacho brands, I promise. I think you should be able to find it in France.
On the other hand, I have recently discovered some alternative gazpachos to the classic recipe. My favorite is the watermelon one, half way between savoury and sweet, does perfect as an appetizer or as an afternoon snack. Ingredients: same quantity of watermelon and ripe tomatoes (let's say 1 kilo in total), 1 red pepper, 1 red onion, some garlic (depending on how sweet you expect this soup)a pinch of salt, extra virgin olive oil and a sweet vinegar such as modena or sherry ones. Other alternatives are strawberry, mango… or even mint&melon; gazpachos, all of them absolutely mounth-watering.
Hope you enjoy them, I owed you this after your onion soup recipe which was a resounding succes at a family gathering last month at my place.
And congratulations on your blog, I follow it every day.
Regards
Hecate
Dear Hecate
Thank you for your long and interesting comment, I am definitely going to try your water melon/tomato gazpacho. I'm so glad the onion soup recipe worked, always a relief !! 🙂
best wishes
Sharon
Sharon, I must say that I have never made Gazpacho it sounds delicious! All the varying recipes sound yummy as well thank you everyone. I must resolve to make it soon.We are fond of paella and chorizo and tomato dishes so I will have a go at Gazpacho soon.I really enjoy your post as well.Trish