Olive Oil & Garlic

photo courtesy of tomcensani

Here in Salamanca, Spain the weather is starting to get hot, so its time to make gazpacho. It’s basically an uncooked vegetable soup that is usually served chilled, making it a great summertime dish.   There are a lot of variations on the basic recipe.  Mine is very easy to make so we have gazpacho several times a week when we can find good tomatoes.  I use the tomatoes with their skins and seeds and just put them in the blender with the other ingredients, so this recipe only takes a few minutes to prepare.

Gazpacho

2 large tomatoes – I like beefsteak varieties for this dish

1 cucumber, peeled

1/4 yellow onion

1 clove garlic

1 stalk celery

1/2 red bell pepper

1/2 green bell pepper

3 Tablespoons olive oil

Dash of wine vinegar – more or less to taste

Salt

Adjust the amounts of the ingredients to fit your kitchen blender.  Coarsely chop the tomatoes and add them to the blender, along with the olive oil.  Blend them for a few seconds.  Depending on how pulpy the tomatoes are, you may need to add a little water to get them to blend.  Coarsely chop the other vegetables and add them to the blender.  Blend them for a minute until the consistency is smooth and add salt and vinegar to taste.