Soup
Summer cooking and eating needs to be leisurely, refreshing and straightforward. Slowly grilling meat and seafood on the barbecue, for instance, is an ideal way to enjoy good food in the warm weather. As is throwing together a salad full of fresh, seasonal, crunchy vegetables. And in Spain, the chilled tomato and pepper soup, gazpacho, has become an essential dish for the hottest season of the year.
The deliciousness of the soup is matched by the fun of adding the accompanying ‘sprinkles’ of croutons, cucumber and onion. However, while ‘red’ gazpacho has become a hit not just here, but also abroad, gazpacho blanco (white) is much less famous. The provenance of gazpacho blanco is the cause of some discussion: certain opinion attributes its source to Arab cuisine, while others argue that it has Jewish heritage as there is mention in the Old Testament of a dish that bears some resemblance to it. But most people agree that it’s a Moorish recipe, dating at least from the 13th century when it was being served in Al-Andalus. The tomato and pepper version did not appear until after Columbus had sailed the ocean blue and brought those ingredients back to Europe, but the older version of gazpacho, although perhaps less popular, is just as fresh at this time of year.
Ingredients (for four people)
- 1 egg
- 1 to 2 cloves garlic
- 100g peeled almonds
- 500g breadcrumbs
- 250ml virgin olive oil
- salt and vinegar
- 1 litre cold water
- 1 sweet apple, peeled
- 50g pine nuts
- 80g raisins
- handful of white grapes (optional)
Place the egg, garlic, almonds, breadcrumbs and olive oil into a food mixer along with a dash of vinegar and a pinch of salt. Mix everything together until you have a light dough—if necessary, add a little bit of water to be able to mix it well.
Once beaten, empty the mixture into a deep container with the litre of water, add salt and vinegar to taste and place in the fridge. When it is well chilled, the gazpacho is ready to serve. Before pouring into bowls, add the raisins, pine nuts and apple (cut into quarters) and stir well. And, according to taste, you can also add a few (deseeded) white grapes.