Andalusian Gazpacho

Make Ahead and Storage

Refrigerate 3 days; it thickens and the flavour deepens. Whisk before serving as it separates slightly.

Andalusian Gazpacho: The Method

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1. Soak the bread in 100 ml of cold water for 10 minutes, then squeeze out the excess.

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2. Combine the tomatoes, cucumber, pepper, onion, garlic, soaked bread, vinegar, salt and cumin in a large bowl and leave to macerate for 30 minutes. This softens the raw edge and starts drawing out juices.

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3. Blend in batches on the highest speed for a full 2 minutes per batch, until completely smooth and paler in colour.

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4. With the blender running on low, drizzle in the olive oil in a thin stream. The soup will visibly thicken and turn opaque coral — that is the emulsion.

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5. Pass through a fine sieve, pressing hard, for a silky texture. This step is what separates restaurant gazpacho from home gazpacho.

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6. Taste and adjust the salt and vinegar. Cold mutes flavour, so it should taste slightly sharp and salty at room temperature.

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7. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours until thoroughly cold.

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8. Serve in bowls or glasses with the diced cucumber and pepper, croutons and a hard drizzle of olive oil.

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Related guides: Prep, cook and total time · Ingredient substitutions.

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Tips for Success

• Use the ripest tomatoes you can find. Out of season this soup is simply not worth making.
• Season after chilling as well as before — cold dulls salt and acid noticeably.
• Serve in a glass as an aperitivo, which is how it is often drunk in Andalusia.

Some Background

Bread is not filler — its starch stabilises an emulsion of olive oil and tomato water, which is what turns gazpacho from a thin juice into a silky, opaque soup. Blending the oil in slowly at the end, as you would for mayonnaise, is what makes that emulsion hold.

Good Alongside

A cold fino or manzanilla sherry · Serve before grilled fish or as a light lunch with bread · Follow with fresh figs

Sides from the same cuisine on this site: Judias Verdes con Jamon, Espinacas a la Catalana.

Ingredient Swaps

• An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.

Questions About Andalusian Gazpacho

The Numbers per Serving

Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.

Vegan when served without the hard-boiled egg.

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