Creamy Gazpacho Andaluz

Total Time: 1 hr 30 mins Preparation Time: 1 hr 30 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 4
• 3 lbs tomatoes, cored (about 6 medium)
• 1 small cucumber, peeled, halved, and seeded
• 1 medium green bell pepper, halved, cored and seeded
• 1 small red onion, peeled and halved
• 2 medium garlic, peeled and quartered
• 1 serrano chili, stemmed and halved lengthwise
• kosher salt
• 1 slice bread, crust removed, torn into 1-inch pieces
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil (plus extra for garnish)
• 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar (or red wine vinegar, plus extra for garnish)
• 2 tablespoons parsley (chives, or basil leaves, finely minced)
• ground black pepper

Recipe

• 1 roughly chop 2 pounds of tomatoes, half of cucumber, half of bell pepper, and half of onion and place in large bowl. add garlic, chile, and 1½ teaspoons salt; toss until well combined. set aside.
• 2 cut remaining tomatoes, cucumber, and pepper into ¼-inch dice; place vegetables in medium bowl. mince remaining onion and add to diced vegetables. toss with ½ teaspoon salt and transfer to fine-mesh strainer set over medium bowl. set aside 1 hour.
• 3 transfer drained diced vegetables to medium bowl and set aside. add bread pieces to exuded liquid (there should be about ¼ cup) and soak 1 minute. add soaked bread and any remaining liquid to roughly chopped vegetables and toss thoroughly to combine.
• 4 transfer half of vegetable-bread mixture to blender and process 30 seconds. with blender running, slowly drizzle in ¼ cup oil and continue to blend until completely smooth, about 2 minutes. strain soup through fine-mesh strainer into large bowl, using back of ladle or rubber spatula to press soup through strainer. repeat with remaining vegetable-bread mixture and 1/4 cup olive oil.
• 5 stir vinegar, minced herb, and half of diced vegetables into soup and season to taste with salt and black pepper. cover and refrigerate overnight or for at least 2 hours to chill completely and develop flavors. serve, passing remaining diced vegetables, olive oil, sherry vinegar, and black pepper separately.
• 6 note: if kosher salt is not available, half the amount of table salt can be used.