Recipe for Gazpacho Soup :: Chunky Style

Back when I lived in Charleston, SC and worked at Fast and French (aka The Pig and The Chicken, G&M), we made gazpacho soup every day. I started as the dish washer and made my way up to server who had to put time in prepping for soups and such, and my favorite soup to prep was gazpacho. Why? Because there was so much methodical chopping and you could do it so quickly! And the tomatoes were just fun to just squish.

The thing about this soup was that it was kind of magical. After lunch, I would eat a very large piece of carrot cake, and as you know, carrot cake is deadly, especially if it has thick cream cheesy frosting like this one did. So, normally, my brain would be flat on the floor in a sugar induced coma, but a bowl of vegetables in the form of gazpacho soup would bring me back every time.

So, here is a good recipe that is close to that of Fast and French. I started with this link for authentic gazpacho soup Spain style, and changed it a bit. That recipe, and others, are calling for bread. I don't know what to do with the bread except dip it. You could, I suppose, put it into the mixture when you blend to soak up some of the juices, but I don't see a point to that.

Ingredients for Gazpacho Soup
serves for 2-4 or for your lunches

• 1 large tomato
• 1 large red pepper
• 1 large green pepper
• 1/2 of a large red onion
• 1 carrot
• 1 bunch of clilantro
• 4 basil leaves
• several dashes of Cumin
• as much salt as you like
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons white whine vinegar
  
• 1 tablespoon water
  
• 1 blender
  

On a chopping board, cut the vegetables and dump into the blender in this order: peppers, onion, carrot, tomato, cilantro, basil, cumin, and salt. Spoon the olive oil over the top, letting it spread the seasonings and cilantro and basil. Spoon the vinegar, then the water. Sprinkle the Cumin and salt again. Blend on the Chop setting, if you have it. You want this to be a little chunky, so don't liquefy. Blend until the mixture turns red and soupy. Pour into a large bowl and let sit at room temperature for an hour to let the freshly cut vegetables mingle, then chill, then eat. You are done!

Note: Don't put the onions in first. If you blend, and the mixture doesn't start to blend very nicely, meaning you have to stir it, then chances are you will over blend the onion, and the onion will get too watery. Your soup could actually be not as red, and more white or gray. Weird, I know.