Gazpacho

Name: Gazpacho
Ingredients: 1 kg very ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped; 2 sweet red peppers; 1 large red onion; 1 fresh red chili, deseeded and chopped; 1 cucumber, peeled, deseeded and chopped; 150 g day-old white country bread; 120 ml extra virgin olive oil; 250 ml ice-cold water; 3 large garlic cloves; 1 small handful of fresh mint; 1 tablespoon Tabasco sauce; 1 lemon; 2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped; salt & freshly ground black pepper

14 ingredients

10 steps

Ingredients

1 kg very ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped
2 sweet red peppers
1 large red onion
1 fresh red chili, deseeded and chopped
1 cucumber, peeled, deseeded and chopped
150 g day-old white country bread
120 ml extra virgin olive oil
250 ml ice-cold water
3 large garlic cloves
1 small handful of fresh mint
1 tablespoon Tabasco sauce
1 lemon
2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
salt & freshly ground black pepper

Directions

1

Blitz the bread into breadcrumbs and soak in half the water.
2

Put aside half a red pepper and half the onion, then roughly chop the remainder and place in a large bowl with the chili, tomatoes, cucumber, garlic, mint and olive oil.
3

Mix through the breadcrumbs and remainder of the water.
4

Blitz with either a hand blender or in batches in a conventional blender until smooth (several minutes).
5

If you prefer, you can sieve at this point to make the end result very smooth; I personally prefer the little bit of texture.
6

Stir through the tabasco and juice of half the lemon and season well (I used about three level teaspoons of salt and the same of black pepper).
7

Taste and adjust lemon, tabasco and seasoning as required.
8

Chill for at least 4 hours to allow flavours to infuse - it should be served very cold.
9

Serve alongside a plate containing the remainder of the red pepper and red onion, very finely chopped, and the hard boiled egg for people to sprinkle on to their taste.
10

Garnish with a few small mint leaves and lemon.