Probablemente, there are as many recipes for Gazpacho as there are Spanish families.  It’s one of those dishes that gets passed down in guidelines more than a particular hand-copied recipe.  Or that you can try without having ever seen it made, which is what I first did.  It was one of those dishes I figured I needed to know how to make como buena española, so I taught myself.

Basically, you need a half a dozen tomatoes, some peppers, an onion, a cucumber, some croutons or stale migas, olive oil, salt, garlic, and vinegar.  And the blender or food processor, of course.  Chop up the veggies, add them to the blender, throw in the pan, swirl in a bit of olive oil and vinegar and season to taste.  Liquefy.  Refrigerate.  Serve with or without a variety of guarniciones: croutons, olives, chopped up veggies. Enjoy.  

I’m not a purist- I like my gazpacho a tiny bit chunkier- still liquefied but not thin enough to drink out of a glass.  And a little spicier, too (influenced by my worship of salsa); I blend up hot peppers in a 1:2 ratio to the sweet.  

I made my first batch of the season last night and will keep making it weekly even though it won’t get as hot in Pennsylvania as it did in Madrid (it will, however, get very humid).  I’ll use up all the tomatoes and peppers I’ll grow in my garden, get un montonazo de vitamins and antioxidants, and, by the end of summer, look a little better in my jeans.  

Buen provecho!

*photo by rusvaplauke