Picture this: We’re in Spain; we’re dying to try some authentic Spanish food; and we’re broke. We have spent the last four days traveling in the craziest circumstances (you can see the whole trip here) and now all we want is to have a modest picnic lunch. We buy a cheap bottle of red wine (still delicious because we’re in Spain), some manchego cheese and some bread. This meal still doesn’t seem complete. Walking a few more steps we see a sign at a café, “Gazpacho para llevar” (“to go,” cost: 3 euro). Sold!
We spend the next few hours underneath the Arc De Triomf (did you know there was one in Barcelona too? We didn’t.) We enjoyed wine and cheese along with what became our new obsession: gazpacho.
Back in the US I tried (and failed miserably) to recreate the flavors we had so enjoyed in Barcelona. Then one day, while visiting Boston, a Spanish friend of ours picked up a bunch of tomatoes at the farmer’s market and announced he would be making gazpacho tonight and would we like to join him? Heck yes, we would. The taste? The same. The process? Mine at last!
Thanks to a super special holiday gift of a food processor, I decided it was finally time to make it myself! Below is the method I used:
4 tomatoes, 1 red pepper, 1 green pepper, 1 red onion, 1 cucumber, 2 cloves of garlic, the juice of 1 lemon
Chop it all up, then blend it, adding a few tablespoons of olive oil and salt and pepper to taste
Puree the mixture until it's smoot
Strain carefully and patiently
Yes it must be strained! Don’t pout, it’s worth it. You can even strain in twice if you like it to be super smooth. We like a little texture, so once is plenty for us! Afterward let it chill overnight for maximum flavor!
The next day we decided to turn this gazpacho into our very own walk down the Spanish lane:
I got some Spanish wine down at the local shop.
And we indulged ourselves happily.
Eat. Read. Ask. Do. Be. 