Spain · Starter · Easy
Gazpacho
Rome's most famous pasta. Silky egg and Pecorino sauce clinging to every strand, studded with crisp guanciale. No cream, ever.
The whole recipe in 60 seconds
Gazpacho, in 5 ideas
- Tomatoes make or break it. Use the ripest, ugliest, most fragrant tomatoes you can find. Pale supermarket tomatoes in winter will never make good gazpacho.
- Emulsify the oil slowly. Pouring it in all at once makes it greasy. A slow drizzle while blending gives that creamy body without any cream.
- Sherry vinegar is non-negotiable. Red wine vinegar is harsher and white wine vinegar is blander. Sherry vinegar has a nutty depth that belongs here.
- Strain for silk. Skipping the sieve leaves you with a rustic texture, which is fine, but one pass through fine mesh turns it restaurant smooth.
- Serve it freezing. Chill the bowls too. Gazpacho warms fast on the table, so start colder than you think necessary.
What you need
Ingredients
- 3 lbs ripe tomatoes, quartered
- 1 cucumber, peeled and chopped
- 1 green bell pepper, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 oz day-old country bread, crusts removed
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more to serve
- 3 tbsp sherry vinegar
- 1 1/2 tsp salt, plus more to taste
- 1/2 cup cold water, as needed
How to make it
Directions
- Soak the bread in cold water for 5 minutes, then squeeze it dry with your hands.
- Add the tomatoes, cucumber, bell pepper, garlic, and soaked bread to a blender. Blend until completely smooth, about 2 minutes.
- With the blender running, drizzle in the olive oil slowly so it emulsifies into the soup. Add the sherry vinegar and salt.
- Thin with cold water until it pours like a light soup, not a smoothie. Taste and adjust salt and vinegar.
- Strain through a fine mesh sieve for the silkiest texture, pressing with a spoon. This step is optional but worth it.
- Chill at least 4 hours, or overnight. Gazpacho must be served genuinely cold.
- Serve in chilled bowls with a thread of olive oil and diced cucumber or croutons on top.
Chill it longer than you think. Four hours is the minimum. Overnight is better. The flavors need cold time to marry, and lukewarm gazpacho is a sad thing.