I love gazpacho. Whether it’s a more traditional peasant recipe of tomatoes, peppers and garlic mixed in a mortar with a pestle and combined with olive oil, crushed ice and herbs, or one of the fancier modern versions inspired by the Spanish original, gazpacho is a perfect meal for a hot summers day.
This recipe is from my brother and is close to a traditional gazpacho, although the ingredient prep is a bit more on the ‘gourmet’ side that the ‘peasant’ side of the scale and it doesn’t call for stale bread, which is a staple in the more authentic recipes. Because of the red peppers in this recipe, I consider it more of an end-of-summer recipe since garden-grown peppers really only come into season in mid-August (unless they got a real head-start indoors or it was a hot and sunny summer). As usual, try to use fresh, local ingredients, preferably grown without pesticides.
Tim’s Roasted Red Pepper Gazpacho
4 tomatoes, peeled and seeds removed
8 red peppers, stems and seed removed
1 cucumber, peeled and deseeded
4 cloves garlic (or to taste), minced
1 cup chilled vegetable broth
1/2 cup olive oil
salt and pepper
Char the red peppers: Slice the peppers into quarters and place the slices flesh-side down on a baking sheet. You may need to score the tops and bottoms of each slice so that they lie flat. Then place the rack under a preheated, red-hot broiling grill for a few minutes until they start the blacken. Remove the baking sheet and quickly cover it with aluminum foil to allow the peppers to steam as they cool. After 15 minutes they should be cool enough to handle. Remove the foil and push back the peel on the peppers. Discard the charred peel. Keep the juicy flesh.
Cut about a dozen thin slices of cucumber and set them aside. These will be the garnish for the soup. Coarsely chop the rest of the cucumber. Also coarsely chop the red peppers and quarter the tomatoes.
Put the red peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers in a food processor and process them to a fine chop. Transfer to a bowl. Add the garlic, vegetable broth, salt and pepper. Chill overnight or for at least 4 hours.
When you’re ready to serve, add the olive oil and mix well. Adjust the seasonings. Ladle into bowls. Garnish with sliced cucumber and a dusting of freshly ground black pepper. Serve!
I love gazpacho, and roasted red peppers, so this looks extra-delicious to me! Definitely on my to-try list.
Additional tip: If it’ too hot to turn on the oven for grilling, I bet you could roast the red peppers on the BBQ instead.