I must have tried three/four different Gazpacho recipes over the last years, but it just never tasted as good as what you get in restaurants. This version by the Israeli chef Eden David, on the other hand, I’ve made three times in the past week. It’s that good.
Gazpacho is a traditional cold served soup from southern & mostly Andalusian part of Spain. I’ve always loved it in the summer. Especially right now in the mids of a heat wave in Berlin, it’s just the perfect light, refreshing meal.
“ “It’s like drinking the cold juices of the salad when it’s hot outside”
After trying so many recipes at home, I almost gave up on making it at all. But when a chef that I really trust, @edendavid23, shared her recipe on her blog, I had to give it another go. It got me curious because it does two things that none of the others did: It uses no bell peppers (just tomatoes), and you actually have to sieve the gazpacho at the end, which gives it the super smooth texture (how did I not think of this before?!)
“Gazpacho by Eden David is, without a doubt, the best Gazpacho I ever made.”
You can find the recipe on her blog. But since it’s in Hebrew, I asked Eden’s permission to translate is and share it here with you! She kindly agreed. I wrote it down for you with some tips and a small alteration from me in the recipe.
Ingredients
Makes: 4 starter meals
Time: 10 min + 30 min chilling in the fridge
6 – 8 medium tomatoes
1/2 a large or 1 small cucumber
1/4 of a large red onion
1 medium garlic clove
1 celery stalk
40 – 50 ml sherry vinegar (or apple vinegar if you really can’t find any)
3 – 4 tbsp olive oil
3/4 tbsp salt
Instructions
1.
Prepare: Roughly chop 6 – 8 medium tomatoes, 1/2 a large cucumber, 1/4 large red onion, 1 medium garlic clove and 1 celery stalk.
2.
Blend: Transfer all the ingredients including 2 – 3 tbsp olive oil and 40 – 50 ml sherry/apple vinegar and 3/4 tbsp salt into a blender. Blend until smooth.
3.
Strain the soup: You can use a regular fine sieve, but I recommend using a cheese cloth – it’s faster and even fun, feels like ‘milking’ the soup! Be thorough, trust me – you don’t want to waste a drop! Discard the solids.
4.
Let it cool: Cool the soup in the fridge until really cold, at least half an hour.
5.
Serve: The soup is great as it is, so you can simply pour it in a cup and enjoy as a starter or something for in-between meals! If you like, you can serve it in a bowl with some chopped celery, red onion and a drizzle of olive oil. You can also add raw, pickled or smoked fish, croutons and Labneh.
This gazpacho was soo refreshing! For a first timer the instructions were spot on. Definitely a new summertime staple. I didn’t have sherry so I used ACV, and I also only had 4 tomatoes so threw a bell pepper in there as well. Can’t wait to have this again and again!