 |
| Surrounded by saucerfuls of garnishes, gazpacho is just right on a hot day |
When Allison was a senior in high school, she developed a sweet friendship with a foreign exchange student from Spain. Carolina is intelligent, beautiful, and has a great sense of humor. However, she was a bit homesick and we were more than happy to have her over as much as she wanted to come! At graduation time, her entire family - mom, dad, brothers, sisters, and significant others - came to visit! We had a big midwest style cookout with them and had a great time getting aquainted. Carolina invited Allison to visit her in Spain and of course she went! One thing dish Allison talked about was the Gazpacho that Carolina's mom made each day for the main, middle of the day meal. Carolina's family lives in Badajoz which is about four hours southwest of Madrid and is right near the Portugal border. Allison says authentic Gazpacho is thicker than mine, but tastes about the same. Traditional Gazpacho has bread in it, but because I count carbs, I chose to leave it out and sometimes opt for some yummy croutons instead. I love to pile in the garnishes - especially chopped hardboiled eggs. This makes it a great brunch option as well as the main dish in a light lunch or first course in hot weather. It tastes even better if you make it the night before!
Gazpacho - this makes 2 large servings or 4 small ones
1. Dice 3 tomatoes, 1/2 of a seeded cucumber, 4 slices bread (I leave bread out), 1/4 green pepper, 1/2 onion. Process the ingredients in a food processor. Pour the mixture in a glass bowl and stir in 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, 1/8 teaspoon cumin, and 1 clove of garlic that has been finely minced or put through a press. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours, but the longer the better for the flavors to blend.
2. To make the garnishes, cut up another tomato, and what is remaining of the seeded cucumber, green pepper and onion. Dice up a couple of hardboiled eggs. Make croutons by taking cubed bread and browning them in a skillet with 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
3. Pour the soup into bowls and pick your individual garnishes!
 |
| Here we are with Carolina's family - the only place we could all fit as one group was the basement! |
No comments:
Post a Comment