I made gazpacho just like the kind I had all the time in Spain!

I spent the summer of 2003 in Granada, Spain, where I became insatiably addicted to two things: olives and gazpacho. It was the summer of that record breaking heat wave in Europe, and I just could not get enough of this simple, nutritious, refreshing soup. Since then, I still eat olives constantly, but I had to go through gazpacho withdrawal--nobody, not even fancy restaurants, makes it like they do in Spain. In the US, it's always more like salsa in a bowl--chunky with lots of other vegetables and heavy on the cilantro and cayenne, which is more Mexican than Spanish. But the real thing is actually a thin, simple, vinagery soup, with a slight salty/sweet bite, sometimes garnished with chopped veggies like cucumber, bell pepper, etc.

A few weeks ago, years after I'd lost hope of ever finding anything resembling the gazpacho I once ate every day for a whole summer, I did a simple search on epicurious and found this recipe for Classic Andalusian Gazpacho, adapted by Gourmet from a famous restaurant in Cadiz, a small city on the Costa del Sol. It looked promising: garlic, soaked bread, tomatoes and SHERRY VINAGER (duh! how could I not have thought of that!) a little cumin (that I would not have guessed), a little sugar, a little salt, a little olive oil.

As soon as I started mixing the ingredients, I knew my gazpacho mania was on its way back, and I think it's here to stay.

Here's the recipe, copied and pasted with comments:

Classic Andalusian Gazpacho

Ingredients

• 1 (2-inch-long) piece baguette, crust discarded (I used ciabatta)
  
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 tablespoons Sherry vinegar (preferably "reserva"), or to taste
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin (optional)
• 2 1/2 lb ripe tomatoes, cored and quartered
• 1/2 cup mild extra-virgin olive oil (preferably Andalusian hojiblanca)
• Garnish: finely chopped red and green bell peppers (as you can see in the photo above, I also garnished with chopped avocado, which isn't exactly traditional but whatareyougonnado.)
  

Soak bread in 1/2 cup water 1 minute, then squeeze dry, discarding soaking water.

Mash garlic to a paste with salt using a mortar and pestle (or mince and mash with a large knife). Blend garlic paste, bread, 2 tablespoons vinegar, sugar, cumin, and half of tomatoes in a food processor (I threw it all in a bowl and used a hand blender.) until tomatoes are very finely chopped. Add remaining tomatoes with motor running and, when very finely chopped, gradually add oil in a slow stream, blending until as smooth as possible, about 1 minute.

Force soup through a sieve into a bowl, pressing firmly on solids. Discard solids. (This is the only tricky part, but totally worth it--in the epicurious comments, some people wrote that they skipped this step but without it, you will have mushy soup that separates from the liquid, instead of smooth perfect deliciousness. So just be patient. Pour it in a little at a time and swish it around in the strainer. My trick has been to use the back of a large serving spoon to spread it around, let it drip through a little, then gather it up into a pile of mushy tomato stuff and press on it.)

Transfer to a glass container and chill, covered, until cold, about 3 hours. Season with salt and vinegar before serving.

Serves about 4.

Tortilla Soup: Take Two

Hillary and I recently cooked dinner at my house. We decided to try another tortilla soup recipe in an attempt to relive those lazy summer days in Baja. Though we agreed it was still not identical to the soup they make in Mexico, I think this recipe comes very close.

The Mansion's Tortilla Soup (Hill found this via the Food Network online)
(Google tells me that the Mansion is a popular, fancy restaurant in Texas.)

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons corn oil (We used olive oil.)
4 corn tortillas, coarsely chopped
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh epazote or cilantro ( Cilantro for us.)
1 cup fresh onion, pureed
2 cups pureed fresh tomatoes (It took about 7 or 8 plum tomatoes to get 2 cups of puree.)
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons chili powder
2 whole bay leaves
4 tablespoons canned tomato puree (We used tomato paste.)
2 quarts chicken stock
Salt
Cayenne pepper
1 cooked chicken breast cut into strips (We cooked up two thinly sliced chicken cutlets. Of course, chicken is optional if you prefer the soup to be vegetarian.)
1 avocado, peeled, seeded and cubed
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
3 corn tortillas, cut in strips and fried until crisp (We baked these (lightly oiled) until crisp, it was just as good.)
Though the recipe didn't call for it, we added a ton of fresh lime juice (about 2 limes I think) to the soup as it was cooking. I think the tangy-ness from the lime juice is the key to the success of this soup!

Directions:

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Saute tortillas with garlic and epazote over medium heat until tortillas are soft. Add onion and fresh tomato puree and bring to a boil. We strained the tomato puree to eliminate all the seeds from the soup. Totally optional, but it does make the soup's texture nice and smooth. Also, I had never pureed an onion before. It was fun!



Add cumin, chili powder, bay leaves, canned tomato puree or paste and chicken stock. Bring to a boil again, then reduce heat to simmer. Add salt and cayenne pepper and lime juice! to taste, and cook stirring frequently for 30 minutes.

Strain and pour into warm soup bowls. We did not strain the soup before serving, but it was still pretty smooth, with only some very small pieces of tortilla and cilantro left. If you want the soup to be completely broth-like, go ahead and strain it. I liked it this way though.

Add the chicken, and garnish with avocado, shredded cheese and crisp tortilla strips. Serve Immediately.







*We also made Trader Joe's cornbread to go along with our soup. Have you ever made it? It is pretty tasty!