Gazpacho. You Don’t Need a Recipe, but Here are Some Suggestions

by | Aug 20, 2022 | What I'm Cooking | 1 comment

My son recently made some gazpacho that was so good that I couldn’t stop thinking about it a few days later. So I made some myself. A few days after that, I made it again.

I don’t know my son’s recipe, if he has one. And the first time I made it, I didn’t use a recipe. Nor did I use one the second time. And all three times it was delicious!

You can’t go wrong with gazpacho, but here are some suggestions and guidelines.

Chill a large can of good tomatoes (San Marzano, organic, or both). Assemble your other ingredients. I recommend a chopped cucumber; a green bell pepper, seeded and chopped; cleaned parsley; some basil leaves; 2-3 garlic cloves, minced; half a sweet onion, chopped. That’s it.

Pour half the canned tomatoes into a blender with some of the other ingredients and puree. Do it in two or three batches. At some point you will want to add a tsp of salt, 1-2 tbsps olive oil, 1-1.5 tbsps red wine vinegar, a tsp of honey or other sweetener. Let it all chill for at least an hour. Marry the flavors as they say.

Here’s what I do to make gazpacho into a meal, though, and I think this is my own invention. Cook up a half cup of garbanzo beans (I start with dried and do them in the pressure cooker.) Drain well, and toss with a mix of paprika/cumin/a hint of cinnamon/garlic powder/salt.

Then either roast the seasoned chickpeas in the oven or an air fryer. (Wait? What temperature and how long? Hmm. I’d say 400 degrees for about 10-12 minutes?) Let the roasted beans cool, and then add them to the gazpacho. They will add fiber, protein, and calories to the gazpacho to make it into a tasty meal.