Silky Smooth Tomato Gazpacho

When I want the perfect outcome-I research. It’s an obsession really. I make an impulse decision to make or create a recipe and thoroughly research every detail about why that ingredient will benefit this dish. And how I can make it better.

For this weeks #TomatoLove post, soups was the chosen category and with tomatoes coming our of my ears from our awesome neighbors, you know I had to make tomato gazpacho.

I made it once about a year ago using a random recipe clipped out of some magazine. I remember how excited I was making it and how disappointed I was afterwards. The soup came out watery and the texture was so off. Even though it was pureed, I felt bits and pieces of small tomato skin floating around and that turned me off in so many ways. It’s a texture thing. I knew from then on that when I was going to make my next gazpacho redemption-it was going to be perfect. Flavorful and spicy, sweet and bright. I wanted the feel to be smooth and silky and still have abundance.

I conquered this redemption.

The secret weapon….bread! Which I hear is an Andaluz tradition. Stale bread soaked  with the organic flavors of vegetables, olive oil and garlic. I never thought bread could make magic happen in soup..but oh my..it did. My next order of business was texture. After the soup was pureed, I was still able to feel the bits of tomato I had previously, so this time I strained it through a fine mesh strainer and what emerged was a silky smooth tomato heaven.

Method:

1) In a medium sized bowl, roughly tear up your bread and add enough water to soak all the bread. Allow bread to sit for about 20 minutes.

2) After about 20 minutes, squeeze the excess water out of the bread. Add all the chopped vegetables, garlic and olive oil to the bread bowl and toss together to combine. Making sure everything is evenly coated with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.Allow to sit for another 20 minutes so the flavors blend.

3) In a food processor or blender, place your bread and vegetable mixture and blend until pureed. Add a few dashes of red wine vinegar. At this point, taste for seasoning or if you would like to add more olive oil.

4) Pour the tomato soup through a fine mesh strainer pushing down on the pulp to get as much liquid as possible.

5) Pour in soup bowls and garnish with extra tomato, peppers and onion.

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Silky Smooth Tomato Gazpacho

Recipe inspired from Anne Burrell

Author: Samantha Ferraro

Ingredients

• 2 lbs tomatoes variety, plum, cherry, roma, heirloom, chopped and seeded
• 1 Persian cucumber peeled and chopped
• 1/4 red onion chopped
• 5-6 baby bell peppers chopped
• 1-2 garlic cloves
• 1 small jalapeno or other hot pepper chopped and seeded (optional)
• 1/2 loaf Italian or French bread day-old preferred
• Few dashes of red-wine vinegar
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Olive oil

Instructions

• In a medium sized bowl, roughly tear up your bread and add enough water to soak all the bread. Allow bread to sit for about 20 minutes.
• After about 20 minutes, squeeze the excess water out of the bread. Add all the chopped vegetables, garlic and olive oil to the bread bowl and toss together to combine. Making sure everything is evenly coated with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.Allow to sit for another 20 minutes so the flavors blend.
• In a food processor or blender, place your bread and vegetable mixture and blend until pureed. Add a few dashes of red-wine vinegar. At this point, taste for seasoning or if you would like to add more olive oi.
• Pour the tomato soup through a fine mesh strainer pushing down on the pulp to get as much liquid as possible.
• Pour in soup bowls and garnish with extra tomato, peppers and onion.

Come share in the tomato love at the Tomato Love Recipe Exchange, hosted by Gimme Some Oven & Bake Your Day, sponsored this week by Le Creuset.  Also visit Recipe for Change to learn more about how to support tomato farmers.