The Basics: How to Make Gazpacho

Published on Thursday, July 30, 2009, by CHOW Food Team / Edit Post

From the store to the kitchen to the table: We outline the steps that get you from raw ingredients to your dinner tonight, free of measurements and complicated techniques. It’s a method you’ll remember and whip out whenever you like. It is the most basic way to make the thing you’re making.

  • WHAT YOU’LL NEED:
  • - a blender
  • - four tomatoes
  • - one green bell pepper
  • - one English cucumber
  • - half a red onion
  • - one garlic clove
  • - two 12-ounce cans of tomato juice
  • - red wine vinegar
  • - olive oil
  • - salt and pepper

WHAT YOU’LL DO:

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  • 1. Chop all the vegetables.

    Step 1

  • 2. Add the vegetables to the blender.

    Step 2

  • 3. Add the tomato juice to the blender and blend until puréed. If the purée is too thick, add water to thin it out. (You can blend in batches if you can’t fit all the ingredients in at once.)

    Step 3

  • 4. Add a generous splash of red wine vinegar and a few healthy spoonfuls of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper, and stir. Taste and adjust the seasonings to your liking.

    Step 4

  • 5. Serve in a bowl, topped with homemade croutons.

    Step 5

Illustrations by Bill Russell

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POST A COMMENT |21 Comments

COMMENT

  • This is not only easy but delicious! You might have to adjust the seasonings, but I made a much more elaborate gazpacho from a magazine, and this was much better. Simple is the best!

  • @dougaldog: this is a general problem with chow recipes - they are almost always not quite right. but to mess up such a simple recipe as gazpacho! i really don't get it.

  • dougaldog's sounds much more authentic, I have been looking for a real gaz recipe and when I clicked on this one it did not sound right.

    has anyone tried using a juicer for part of it?

  • Listen to the man. Just blend several very ripe tomatoes with some peeled cucumber, red and green bell peppers, a little garlic and push through a large strainer using the back of a ladle. Add salt and some stale bread crumbs from a decent baguette, with a little extra virgin and some sort of acidity... good vinegar or lemon juice or both. Refrigerate before serving. Serve in bowl or glass...+READ

    Listen to the man. Just blend several very ripe tomatoes with some peeled cucumber, red and green bell peppers, a little garlic and push through a large strainer using the back of a ladle. Add salt and some stale bread crumbs from a decent baguette, with a little extra virgin and some sort of acidity... good vinegar or lemon juice or both. Refrigerate before serving. Serve in bowl or glass whatever. Chop some Serrano ham and hard boiled egg into it if you got it. Courtesy of my suegra de Andalucia....-COLLAPSE

  • As a born and bred Andalusian I can assure you that you would never, ever add tomato juice, particularly out of a can or a jar. Gazpacho is very simply a liquified tomato salad: tomatoes, a little onion (usually regular Spanish onion rather than red), cucumber, and some green pepper... oil... vinegar (sherry vinegar is best)... coarse salt, and that's about it. Some use bread, some not... same...+READ

    As a born and bred Andalusian I can assure you that you would never, ever add tomato juice, particularly out of a can or a jar. Gazpacho is very simply a liquified tomato salad: tomatoes, a little onion (usually regular Spanish onion rather than red), cucumber, and some green pepper... oil... vinegar (sherry vinegar is best)... coarse salt, and that's about it. Some use bread, some not... same goes for garlic... and some use iced water. Blend it in a blender (or use a mortar and pestle, if you can be bothered), put through a mouli to remove skins and seeds... refrigerate and you are done. Serve alone, or with diced onion, cucumber, tomato, hard boiled egg, croutons... I like chunky rustic bread... it's reaally up to you. The rules are pretty loose, and we all have our own prefrences, but tomato juice/V8... nope... never... out of the question. That's what the tomatoes are for! Better to get two kilos than add tasteless commercial juice! By the way, you only ever make gazpacho in the summer, once tomatoes are in season, and you should only use VERY ripe ones too! That's what makes it special... you can only have it at a certain time of the year!

    Que aproveche!-COLLAPSE

  • Please remember everybody...that if you are not serving this immediately....DO NOT ADD THE OLIVE OIL...once in the fridge it WILL turn your gazpacho mushy and nasty. Add EVOO just before serving and enjoy.

  • Oops sorry for typos, that's what happens when trying to 'cook' the stuff and type.
    Anyway recipe for white gazpacho (Ajo Blanco) - 225g whole blanched almonds,750ml iced water, 75g stale bread, 3 cloves garlic,3tblsp olive oil,3 tblsp sherry vinegar 200grams white grape (muscatel for preference). - Soak bread, grind almonds to a paste in food processor add a little water to loosen. Squeeze...+READ

    Oops sorry for typos, that's what happens when trying to 'cook' the stuff and type.
    Anyway recipe for white gazpacho (Ajo Blanco) - 225g whole blanched almonds,750ml iced water, 75g stale bread, 3 cloves garlic,3tblsp olive oil,3 tblsp sherry vinegar 200grams white grape (muscatel for preference). - Soak bread, grind almonds to a paste in food processor add a little water to loosen. Squeeze water from bread add to almonds with garlic.Combine til smooth gradually add water till consistency of thin cream. Add vinegar and salt to taste. Chill well. Check for seasoning before serving in individual bowls. Top with grapes and perhaps a drop or 2 of olive oil-COLLAPSE

  • I agree with Truedog Gazpacho should be cold and in Andalusia, Spain contains stale bread. About 2 thin broken up slices of country bread should do,- add when blending. If you like omit the bread and replace with a good tablespoon of good quality mayonnaise. Serve with croutons and tiny diced oinon cucumber etc.
    Gounod Almonds make a different type of 'white gazpacho' again served chilled but...+READ

    I agree with Truedog Gazpacho should be cold and in Andalusia, Spain contains stale bread. About 2 thin broken up slices of country bread should do,- add when blending. If you like omit the bread and replace with a good tablespoon of good quality mayonnaise. Serve with croutons and tiny diced oinon cucumber etc.
    Gounod Almonds make a different type of 'white gazpacho' again served chilled but with grapes-COLLAPSE

  • wahwahweewee: you can add the almonds (toast them first if you please) to the blender along some bread and process it until it's broken up. then proceed with the rest of the recipe as listed above. let us know how it goes!

  • Authentic gazpacho contains stale bread, and versions with this is are waaaaay tastier! (The first ingredient listed on the Spanish Wikipedia page for gazpacho is actually bread.)

  • Bold and spicy bloody mary mix works well too

  • I use V8 juice

  • Just a few changes! Tomatoes yes..but .no tomato juice. Instead, a can or two of chicken stock and one or two cans of tomato sauce. Some garlic if you are so inclined. Don't forget the vinegar and oil. Otherwise, pretty much the same. This recipe was given to me years ago by a pretty Spanish bride before she returned to her native country.

  • This could not be more timely. I just bought tomato juice and cucumber and was looking to make Gazpacho even though I have never made it and never had it.

    Just wondering about something Aidam said, how exactly are almonds incorporated (I have them too..) Do they need to be ground first or with the veggies? Are they just a garnish? Sorry, I am afraid I am a gazpacho virgin.

  • Tomato juice is easier and faster and best when tomatoes are out of season. If I can get them, I prefer the taste of summer tomatoes pureed and strained as a substitute for commercial tomato juice.

    I find adding a bit of tomato paste really punches up the tomato flavor if it's lacking.

    French Foodie is right; gazpacho should be served chilled, in a chilled bowl. I suggest a minimum of 5-6...+READ

    Tomato juice is easier and faster and best when tomatoes are out of season. If I can get them, I prefer the taste of summer tomatoes pureed and strained as a substitute for commercial tomato juice.

    I find adding a bit of tomato paste really punches up the tomato flavor if it's lacking.

    French Foodie is right; gazpacho should be served chilled, in a chilled bowl. I suggest a minimum of 5-6 hrs or overnight.-COLLAPSE

  • I like a sprinkle of cayenne pepper.

  • Definitely needs bread, slightly stale, soaked in water, less onion and no tomato juice. If too thick- a little water. IMO gazpacho tastes nothing like salsa.

  • Personally I prefer to grill all of the vegetables, peel off the skins, and then blend them. With this, you need much less tomato juice, leading to a thicker soup. Furthermore, the soup should be chilled before serving, and should be reaseasoned with salt after chilling since the cold temperature will affect the interplay of the salt with the soup.

  • mondaybox: definitely a lot of recipes add breadcrumbs, bread, or nuts. if you have any almonds or stale bread lying around, throw a few handfuls in for a more authentic, thicker mouthfeel.

  • sounds nice, but i don't think it is really gazpacho. you need bread in gazpacho to give it body.

  • How do you keep gazpacho from tasting like a bowl of salsa?