Tomato Gazpacho
As a child I never understood what all that fussing was about “chilled soup” – it sounded ostentatious, pretentious and quite frankly, downright stupid to me. Why call it a soup then? Why not a veggie juice?
But now older, and perhaps slightly wiser, I can tell you that it is not at all any of those things I mentioned above – it is in fact quite the opposite – it is sophisticated, requires a balanced ingredients list, and is so delicate in taste, it makes you want more. Serve it in beautiful crockery, and it instantly fancies up your menu.
Trying to diet on soup is bad enough – trying to get all those veggies in it is in fact torture. Now, if I could have a creamy mushroom soup everyday – that’s a different kind of diet altogether!
Nothing is as refreshing as a chilled soup on a hot summer’s day – I know I have the season wrong but it does taste a whole lot better than the sad, boiled and crushed green veggies. And of course, what’s better than being able to drink your vegetables instead of eating them (AND tricking your children)?
I scoured the web for countless recipes and here is my ultimate adaptation.
- 5 tomatoes
- 1 cucumber
- ½ onion
- 2 slices of multigrain bread, lightly soaked in water
- 1 tsp olive oil
- Salt & pepper to taste
- 1 ½ tsp of thickened balsamic vinegar (for garnish)
- Simply blend the ingredients together and chill for a couple of hours.
- Add diced cucumbers and onions on top and drizzle of thick balsamic. And if you’re easy on the calories, a few baked croutons!
