Gazpacho Soup

Gazpacho Soup Recipe Type: Vegan Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 1 hour Total time: 1 hour 15 mins Serves: 6 Gazpacho is a tomato-based vegetarian soup traditionally served cold. It comes from the southern Spanish region of Andalucia and is widely eaten in Spain and also Portugal. This recipe is perfect for summer, when the weather is hot. Ingredients For the soup: 700 g ripe tomatoes 1 x 10 cm piece of cucumber 2 spring onions 2 cloves of garlic, crushed 1/2 large red pepper, deseeded and chopped 1 heaped teaspoon fresh basil, chopped 4 tablespoons olive oil 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar sea salt and freshly milled black pepper For the garnish: 1/2 large red pepper, deseeded and very finely chopped 1 x 10 cm piece of cucumber, very finely chopped 2 spring onions, very finely chopped some fresh basil (a couple of leaves for each serving) Instructions Place the tomatoes in a bowl and pour boiling water over them. After a few minutes the skins will loosen and slip off easily. Halve the tomatoes, scoop out and discard the seeds and roughly chop the flesh. Place the tomatoes, cucumber, spring onions, crushed garlic and chopped pepper in a liquidiser, as well as some salt and pepper, the basil, oil and wine vinegar. Blend everything at top speed until the soup is absolutely smooth. (If your liquidiser is very small combine all the ingredients first, then blend in two or three batches. You can also blend the ingredients using a hand blender, in several batches.) Pour the soup into a bowl. Stir in a little cold water to thin it slightly (anything between approx. 150-250 ml). Cover the bowl with foil and chill thoroughly (for approx. 1 hour). To prepare the garnish, combine all the ingredients together, except the basil, with a seasoning of salt and freshly milled black pepper, then add a little of the mixture to each serving bowl, on top of the soup. Add a couple of basil leaves to the top of each bowl. Add an ice cube to each bowl just before serving. Additionally, the soup may be accompanied with croutons of bread fried until crisp in olive oil. 2.2.6