STORE-BOUGHT GAZPACHO

 

Gazpacho straight from the carton.

Store-bought gazpacho is, undoubtedly, a contradiction in terms. By my own definition gazpacho should be made with ripe, raw tomatoes at the top of the season. When I’ve got those perfect tomatoes, I make gazpacho. Nevertheless, I confess to buying gazpacho in cartons at the supermarket. Gallons of it. We swig it all day long during this heat wave. Gazpacho is sustenance and survival.

Gazpacho in cartons, pasteurized for safe keeping, is fairly natural—97,4 percent vegetables (tomatoes, peppers, cucumber, onion and garlic), extra virgin olive oil (2.2%), wine vinegar, salt and lemon juice according to the label on one supermarket brand. It contains no bread (my homemade gazpacho always has bread) nor other thickener, so this it is fairly low in carbs, gluten-free. There are more expensive brands. But for thirst-quenching in quantity, this basic one is just fine.

Refrigerated, store-bought gazpacho keeps a couple of months. Once opened it needs to be used within five days. With an empty household I found myself with unused gazpacho and devised ways to use it up.

Gazpacho makes excellent salad dressing.

The first time my in-laws came to visit us in Spain (almost sixty years ago!), my father-in-law obstinately refused to eat gazpacho, pronouncing “cold soup” an abomination. He said the only thing gazpacho was good for was salad dressing. Well, it does make good salad dressing! Pour it straight from the carton over the greens, then add some additional extra virgin olive oil. 

Ready-made gazpacho makes a quickie substitute for real tomatoes in a pasta sauce or soup. Use it with water or stock as the cooking liquid for paella. And, should the weather change, heat the gazpacho to make a tasty tomato soup. (Heat it gently without boiling.) Add some cooked elbow macaroni and grated cheese to the soup for a whole new lunch experience. Or make a version of pan con tomate, bread with tomato: spoon gazpacho over slabs of toasted bread, add olive oil, and top with slices of serrano or ibérico ham. 

Gazpacho-mayonnaise with sliced chicken.

Here’s a lazy summertime lunch dish using store-bought rotisserie chicken or leftover grilled chicken. The sauce made with gazpacho is an easy version of salsa rosa, pink mayonnaise. It goes very well with cold cuts, shrimp or fish, coleslaw. If making a larger quantity, mix the sauce in a blender. (Recipe below.)

Chicken breast cooked in gazpacho.

Gazpacho heated is an instant sauce for cooked  chicken. Or, if you’re starting with uncooked chicken pieces, sauté them in olive oil until nicely browned, add gazpacho to the pan and simmer until the chicken is cooked through. Serve the chicken with the sauce. 

The chicken in sauce is nice served with plain rice, but cous cous is faster—just add boiling water to the grain with salt and a little extra virgin olive oil (same volume of liquid as of cous cous), cover and set 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork before serving. 

Sliced Chicken with Gazpacho Mayonnaise

Pechuga de Pollo con Mayonesa-Gazpacho

Gazpacho-mayonnaise.

Serves 4.

3-4 cooked chicken breasts

Salad greens

¼ cup mayonnaise

¼ cup gazpacho

1/8 teaspoon hot or sweet smoked pimentón (paprika)

Sliced olives

Cherry tomatoes, quartered

Basil sprigs

Slice the chicken breasts. Arrange salad greens on salad plates and spread the sliced chicken on top.

Beat the mayonnaise smooth. Stir in the gazpacho a little at a time. Beat in the pimentón. 

Scatter olives and tomatoes over the chicken and greens. Garnish with basil. Serve the chicken accompanied by the gazpacho mayonnaise. 

Classic Andalusian Gazpacho

Gazpacho Variations 

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GAZPACHO WITH NO TOMATOES?

 

Campesino, Mijas, 1968.

Gazpacho in one form or another is nearly as old as these hills, although it was not always the red tomato concoction so well-known today. 

Gazpacho evolved as summer sustenance for laborers working in the fields and olive groves. They mixed it in a large wooden bowl, thinned the bread-water-olive oil mixture with fresh spring water, and added whatever fresh ingredients were on hand—chopped cucumbers, onions, lettuce, figs, oranges. Field hands gathered around and dipped right into the communal bowl. 

In rural areas throughout Andalusia are found various sorts of rustic, peasant gazpacho with no tomatoes and no blender required. From Córdoba comes ensalada de caldo, “broth” salad, made with chopped lettuce, oil and vinegar, sometimes with the addition of raw fava beans, to which water is added. In Almería, gazpacho pobre, “poor gazpacho,” is simply chopped cucumber and onion, oil, salt and vinegar, diluted with water. And bread of course. Sometimes the bread is mashed up with garlic and olive oil; sometimes it is simply broken into bits and added to the soup. A “winter” gazpacho, from the Guadalhorce Valley (Málaga province), is popularly made with oranges, for which this valley is reknowned, instead of summer’s tomatoes. 

I’ve been making plenty of classic gazpacho with garden tomatoes, but, in honor of the cucumbers and a basket of fresh figs, here is a refreshing green gazpacho, the one called “poor.”

Gazpacho was traditionally made in a large wooden bowl.

"Poor" gazpacho of cucumbers is not so poor with fancy garnishes.

Peasant gazpacho of cucumbers, onions, figs, and bread is garnished with shredded lettuce, tomatoes, peppers and shrimp.

Peasant Gazpacho with Cucumber 

Gazpacho Pobre de Pepino

Best for gazpacho is day-old country bread, crusts removed. Traditionally, the bread is mashed with garlic and olive oil in a dornillo, a wooden bowl. But blending makes a more refined soup. Adding luxury ingredients such as shrimp takes it out of the peasant category!

No tomatoes in this gazpacho!

Serves 4.

1 cup fresh breadcrumbs

1-2 cloves garlic

 ½ cup water

1 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons lemon juice

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil + additional to finish

1 (8-ounce) cucumber

¼ cup chopped scallions

1 cup very cold water

Shredded lettuce

Chopped fresh figs

Mint sprigs

Croutons or bread to serve

Crushed ice (optional)

Cooked, peeled and chopped shrimp (optional)

Finely chopped green peppers (optional)

Chopped tomato (optional)

Place the breadcrumbs in a bowl or blender container with the garlic and ½ cup of water. Let it sit 10 minutes until the bread is softened. Add the salt, lemon juice and oil. Blend to make a smooth paste. If not serving immediately, cover and refrigerate the mixture.

Crushed ice adds sparkle.

When ready to serve the gazpacho, place the paste in a serving bowl and add the cold water. Peel the cucumber if the skin is very tough. Cut the flesh into ¼ -inch dice, discarding any seeds. There should be about 1 1/3 cups diced cucumber. 

Add the cucumbers to the bowl with the scallions, lettuce and figs. Garnish with sprigs of mint and drizzle with additional olive oil. Serve into shallow bowls accompanied by croutons. Add as desired crushed ice, shrimp, peppers, tomato.  

More recipes with cucumbers:

Chilled Cucumber-Yogurt Soup.

Cucumber-Almond Gazpacho.

Cucumber-Melon-Cheese Salad.

Salad with Purslane, Watermelon and Cucumber.

Cucumber Granita.

Country Gazpacho (tomatoes)

COLD SOUPS, BEYOND GAZPACHO

 

A pitcher of cold soup.

Long before gazpacho came into my life, vichyssoise was my first love. Cold, thick, creamy, sensuous. And, leeks! So sophisticated. For years, vichyssoise was the only thing I ever used leeks for. Then, on a hot summer’s day after I came to live in Andalusia, I turned from sophisticate to peasant. I lived for gazpacho. 

So what defines gazpacho? I have stated that gazpacho must be uncooked (no, don’t scald the tomatoes to facilitate skinning them) and contain an emulsion of olive oil, bread and garlic. Tomatoes are not essential, as white gazpacho is gazpacho’s predecessor. Nor is a blender, for gazpacho used to be made by field hands who crushed the ingredients in a wooden bowl. It was served, not cold, but only as cool as the spring water added to the gazpacho.

I am no longer such a stickler for tradition. I'm willing to stretch the gazpacho definition—let there be cherry gazpacho, no-bread gazpacho, even gazpacho with harissa— as long as it contains extra virgin olive oil! 

Here are a variety of cold soups for your summer pleasure. Some are cooked, then chilled; others, like gazpacho, are never cooked. 

Chilled leek and zucchini soup is both light and satisfying. Serve it as a starter or a lunch dish. 

Vichyssoise with Zucchini and Leeks (Crema Fria de Puerros). No potatoes in this soup, so it’s not really a vichyssoise. The zucchini and a few spoonsful of rice give the pureed soup its creamy texture without the addition of cream. Greek yogurt with chopped chives adds tang to the soup. 

Cold soups need strong flavors—acid, salt, spice—as chilling dulls taste. Add contrast to smooth pureed soups with a garnish or topping. The garnish can be as simple as croutons, chopped tomatoes, diced ibérico ham.  Glass pitchers that fit in the door of the fridge are perfect for chilling and serving cold soups, but a recycled plastic water bottle works too. (Use a funnel to fill it.) 

The recipe for Vichyssoise with Zucchini is below.

Ajo blanco, white gazpacho with garlic, almonds.

White Gazpacho (Ajo Blanco). Before there were tomatoes, there was gazpacho. Made with almonds, garlic, bread and olive oil. Although grapes are the classic garnish, the pictured version has sliced figs.  

The recipe for Ajo Blanco is here.

White gazpacho with pine nuts.

White Gazpacho with Pine Nuts (Gazpacho Blanco con Piñones). Where pine trees grow, such as in the marismas, marshlands of the Guadalquivir River, pine nuts might be used instead of almonds for the white gazpacho. The eggs in this recipe give the gazpacho a silky texture. 

The recipe for White Gazpacho with Pine Nuts is here.

White Gazpacho with Black Garlic (Ajo Blanco y Negro). A bit of drama--classic ajo blanco, with garlic and almonds, is garnished with fermented black garlic. 

Recipe: Black and White Garlic Gazpacho.

Summer Borscht (Crema Fria de Remolacha). Wow, color! Made with beets, this (no-salt) cold soup is a simplification of true Ukrainian borsch. Other vegetables such as carrots or beet greens can be cooked with the beets, which are subtly flavored with orange juice. 

Recipe: Summer Borscht.

Cucumber-yogurt cold soup.

Persian Chilled Cucumber-Yogurt Soup with Mint (Sopa Fria de Pepino con Yogur). Rich Greek yogurt blended with cucumber makes a creamy soup. Chopped mint gives it a fresh and cooling flavor while sultanas add sweetness. In the photo, the soup is garnished with rose petals.

Recipe: Chilled Cucumber Soup with Mint.

An unusual version of that recipe, made with white watermelon instead of cucumber, is here.

Cucumber gazpacho with dill.

Cucumber Gazpacho (Gazpacho de Pepino). Or, is it ajo blanco? This variation on cold cucumber soup has bread, like gazpacho, and almonds, like ajo blanco. 

The recipe is here.

Avocado gazpacho with a chopped salad of shrimp. 

Avocado Gazpacho (Gazpacho de Aguacates). Can this really be called gazpacho? Avocados replace the tomatoes and no bread is needed to thicken the mixture. It does have the requisite olive oil and garlic. It’s a refreshing, filling soup. Here it is shown with a garnish of a chopped salad of shrimp, cherry tomatoes, corn kernels and peppers. The recipes for the soup and garnishes are below.

Melon gazpacho.

Melon Gazpacho (Gazpacho de Melón Piel de Sapo). Melon gazpacho gets its color from the addition of both tomatoes and pimentón. While the melon is subtly sweet, Sherry vinegar gives the soup a real tang. 

Recipe: Melon Gazpacho.

Cherry gazpacho with croutons.

Cherry Gazpacho (Gazpacho de Cereza). A cheffy version of cherry gazpacho is served with a powdering of goat cheese and a sprinkling of pistachios--about as far from the fields of Andalusia as you can get! My version has traditional croutons of fried bread, but non-traditional basil seems to complement both the cherries and the tomatoes in the blend. 

Recipe: Cherry Gazpacho.

Pear Gazpacho

Pear Gazpacho (Gazpacho de Pera). This is a savoury soup, with garlic and olive oil. But, omit the garlic, add some honey and use cream instead of olive oil and you have a tasty summer dessert. 

Recipe for Pear Gazpacho is here.

Vichyssoise with Zucchini

Crema Fría de Calabacín

A version of Vichyssoise with no potatoes. This can be vegetarian, if desired. 

The recipe makes a thick soup, meant to be eaten with a spoon. For sipping, thin it with additional milk or water. Chopped chives are a traditional garnish, always good. But the soup also is good topped with something crunchy—bacon bits, scallions, chopped toasted almonds.

Leeks and zucchini for the soup.

¼ cup olive oil

4 ½ cups chopped leeks (1 pound)

1 shallot, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

5 cups diced zucchini (1 ½ pounds)

3 tablespoons short-grain rice

Pinch of thyme

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

4 cups chicken or vegetable stock (or water)

1 cup milk + additional to thin the soup

¼ cup fresh lemon juice

½ cup Greek yogurt

3 tablespoons milk

¼ teaspoon salt 

Chopped chives

Heat the oil in a pan and sauté the leeks, shallot and garlic until softened without letting them brown, about 5 minutes. Add the zucchini and sauté another 3 minutes. Stir in the rice, thyme, 1 teaspoon of salt, pepper, stock and 1 cup of milk. Bring the soup to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are very tender, 20 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and let the soup cool.

Use an immersion blender to puree the soup until smooth (or, puree in batches in a regular blender). Chill the soup, covered, until ready to serve. 

Stir the lemon juice into the chilled soup. If necessary, thin the soup with additional milk or water.

Whisk the yogurt with 3 tablespoons of milk and salt. Stir in some of the chopped chives. Serve the soup with a swirl of the yogurt mixture and a sprinkling of chives.

Avocado Gazpacho

Gazpacho de Aguacates

Smooth avocado gazpacho with shrimp garnish.

½ cup peeled and diced cucumber

½ cup peeled and diced tomato

¾ cup chopped onion

1 clove garlic

¼ cup chopped green pepper

2 cups chopped avocado (about 3 avocados, 18 ounces)

¼ cup fresh lemon juice

¼ cup chopped cilantro leaves

¼ teaspoon pimentón de la Vera picante (spicy-hot smoked paprika)

1 teaspoon salt

¼ cup + 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 ½ cups water

Garnishes, recipes below

Place cucumber, tomato, onion, garlic and green pepper in food processor bowl and process until they are finely chopped. Add the avocado, lemon juice, cilantro, pimentón and salt. Process until avocado is combined. Add the oil and some of the water and process until the mixture is smooth. Add additional water to thin the soup to desired consistency.

Chill the gazpacho at least 2 hours. Serve the gazpacho garnished as desired.

Chopped Shrimp Salad for Gazpacho

Picadillo de Gambas para Gazpacho

This mix of chopped salad ingredients and shrimp makes a lovely garnish for any gazpacho. 

½ cup quartered cherry tomatoes

¼ cup corn kernels

1 tablespoon minced green pepper and/or jalapeño

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

½ cup cooked, peeled, chopped shrimp

Salt

1 tablespoon chopped cilantro

Combine the tomatoes, corn, green pepper and oil. Stir in the shrimp. Season to taste with salt. Stir in the cilantro. To serve, spoon the chopped salad on top of gazpacho. 

Piquillo Pepper Swirl for Gazpacho

Crema de Piquillo para Gazpacho

Same avocado gazpacho, served in coupes with a swirl of piquillo pepper sauce and a shrimp.

If canned piquillo peppers are not available, use any roasted, peeled red pepper. 

1 cup drained piquillo peppers

Chile (optional)

1 clove garlic

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon Sherry vinegar

Salt

Combine the peppers, chile, if using, garlic, oil and vinegar in a blender. Whizz until smooth and pureed. Add salt to taste.

To serve, swirl a spoonful of the sauce into bowls of gazpacho.

For everything you ever wanted to know about gazpacho:

The Gazpacho Diaries, Days 1-7.

The Gazpacho Diaries, Week 2.

The Gazpacho Diaries, Week 3.

The Gazpacho Diaries, Week 4.

The Gazpacho Diaries, Final Week.

GETTING CHEFFY WITH GARLIC

 

Ajo morado--purple garlic--the best variety.

In my news feed this week was the announcement of the winners of the contest for best dish made with purple garlic. The chefs’ competition was the culmination of the XLVIII Feria Internacional del Ajo in Las Pedroñeras (Cuenca, Castilla-La Mancha), the “garlic capital of Spain.”

The winner, Antonio González of Restaurante+Ideas (Higueruela, Albacete) created a dish called “Ajo Morado Pedroñero.” The photo depicted an out-size head of garlic on a plate, with no indication of what it was confected. No recipe, no description of ingredients.

I did find a recipe for a winner from a previous year, “Crema Helada de Ajo Morado,” by Federico Guajardo of Sal de Mar (Denia, Alicante). Crema helada de ajo morado asado, gamba ahumada, romesco y gelé de agua de pimiento asado. Frozen garlic cream, smoked shrimp, romesco sauce with smoked olive oil and gelée of roasted pepper. (See Chef Federico’s original recipe here.) 

The recipe looked doable—until I checked the list of tools required. Besides a grill, various knives and pots and pans were Thermomix, a Roner and a Pacojet, three very cheffy appliances. And, in the ingredient list were xantham gum and agar agar.

It’s always fun to try something above my pay grade, so I decided to have a go, adapting the recipe to the limitations of a home kitchen and family meals. Instead of artistically plating the cream with its accoutrements, I dolloped it as a garnish in a bowl of gazpacho (in this case, store-bought gazpacho poured from a carton). I added cooked, not smoked, shrimp; diced red pepper and smoked pimentón instead of the romesco and pepper gelée. My own touch was to add thin strips of mojama, air-dried tuna. 

Chilled gazpacho is garnished with scoops of frozen garlic cream, shrimp, chopped roasted red pepper and pieces of mojama, air-dried tuna. 

Full disclosure: I used store-bought gazpacho. Some brands are pretty good and I don't have any garden tomatoes to make my own. The frozen garlic cream turns it into something special!

Scoops of frozen garlic cream.

The Roner, what the chef used to make the roasted garlic oil, is the original sous vide device (invented by Gerona chefs, Joan Roca and Nora Caner). It uses a precision temperature thermal circulator to cook vacuum-sealed foods at low temperature. I simply cooked the roasted garlic in olive oil at a very low temperature, swirling the pan occasionally. 

The Pacojet, a Swiss-made device, is “a $4000 ice cream machine” that turns a frozen block into creamy-smooth puree in an instant. I used a blender to break down the ice crystals in the partially-frozen puree. And, instead of xanthan gum, an ingredient used in professional kitchens to produce extra-smooth emulsions, I used a little cornstarch. 

A Thermomix is a food processor/blender that also cooks. In the chef’s recipe, it was used to make the romesco sauce that was emulsified with olive oil that had been smoked by infusing it with a twig of charred grapevine. I skipped the romesco sauce, which, in any case, is easily made in a regular blender. I also passed on the gelée made with the liquid from roasted bell pepper, for which I might have needed agar agar to set the gelée (although gelatin would work too). 

The frozen garlic cream was a success. But, I could use some chef’s help with my food styling!

Gazpacho with Frozen Garlic Cream

Gazpacho con Crema Helada de Ajo Morado

You will not need all of the roasted garlic oil for this recipe. Use the remainder for salads or to baste a roast chicken.

The frozen garlic cream can be used while still creamy-soft. If allowed to freeze solid, unless you have a Pacojet, it needs to soften before scooping. Besides gazpacho, the frozen garlic cream would complement other cold soups such as vichyssoise and borscht. 

Serves 4-6.

Grill garlic, peel cloves.

For the Roasted Garlic Oil:

2 heads purple garlic

1 cup extra virgin olive oil

Roast the whole heads of garlic on a grill or over coals until outer skin is charred. Remove. When cool enough to handle, remove the outer skin. Slit open each garlic clove and carefully peel off the skin. 

Place the garlic cloves in a small saucepan and add the oil. Heat the oil until it just begins to bubble. Reduce heat to Warm setting, maintaining the oil at 175ºF. For 30 minutes. Strain the oil into a jar. (If desired, save the roasted garlic for another use.)

For the Garlic Cream:

4 ounces queso fresco de cabra (fresh white goat cheese)

½ cup roasted garlic oil (recipe above)

2 cloves garlic

1 ¼ cups cream

2 teaspoons cornstarch

2 tablespoons water

Pinch of salt

Whisk garlic cream.

Break up the goat cheese and place it in a blender or food processor with the oil.

Peel the garlics, crush them lightly and place in a small saucepan with the cream. Heat until the cream begins to bubble. Reduce heat and cook on low for 5 minutes. Strain out the garlics and return the cream to the saucepan. Place on medium heat. Stir the cornstarch and water together. Whisk the cornstarch into the cream and whisk until the cream is slightly thickened. Add the salt. Remove from the heat and pour the cream over the cheese and oil.

Blend or process until the cheese-cream mixture is very smooth. Pour into a metal container and freeze until very stiff. Beat the mixture again in blender or processor until smooth and return it to the freezer until ready to serve.

(To facitiltate serving, when the garlic cream is partially frozen, scoop up spoonfuls and place them on a lightly oiled plate and freeze. Lift them off the plate and into bowls.)

Place garnishes, add gazpacho.

For the gazpacho:

3 cups chilled tomato gazpacho

4-6 cooked shrimp

Roasted red bell peppers or canned pimiento, diced

Thin strips of mojama (salt-dried tuna)

Scoops of frozen garlic cream

Pimentón de la Vera (smoked paprika), to serve

Roasted garlic oil, to serve

Divide the shrimp between individual shallow bowls. Sprinkle with diced pepper and strips of mojama. Add a scoop of garlic cream to each bowl. 

Very carefully pour gazpacho around the shrimp and garlic cream. Sprinkle with pimentón and drizzle a little garlic oil over the top of the gazpacho. Or, simply fill the bowls with gazpacho, add the scoops of garlic cream and other garnishes.

Fantasy gazpacho! On a second serving, I added everything to the gazpacho--frozen garlic cream, diced avocado, chopped guindillas (pickled chilies), corn kernels, red pepper, shrimp, cilantro. We loved it!

Las Pedroñeras—literally, “rockville”—is a village southeast of Madrid, smack in the middle of Don Quixote country. The village lays claim to the title of Spain’s capital of garlic. A single growers’ cooperative in the town, San Isidro el Santo, produces in one season more than 15 million kilos of garlic. Most of it is the esteemed ajo morado, purple garlic, a variety of hard-necked garlic that has papery white layers enclosing cloves shrink-wrapped in violet skins. Purple garlic is both sweet and pungent, with a powerful bite. The purple garlic of Las Pedroñeras has an official IGP (protected geographic designation). 

More recipes with garlic:

Black Garlic Yogurt Sauce.

Lamb Chops Sizzled with Garlic.

Jellied Garlic Soup.

GAZPACHO WITHOUT TOMATOES?

Last year by mid-August, I was in tomato heaven, enjoying gazpacho daily and stashing garden tomatoes in the freezer for sofrito futures. This has been a disappointing year for tomatoes. I haven’t made a single gazpacho so far. I could buy tomatoes, sure, but they would never match the incomparable flavor of the home-grown ones.

Last year, tomatoes from the garden. This year, zilch.

But, while I’m bereft of tomatoes (and cucumbers and peppers, too), I’ve got a basket full of sweet pears. Maybe I could make gazpacho with pears in place of tomatoes?

Pears to replace tomatoes in gazpacho?

By my own definition, gazpacho requires only bread, garlic and olive oil and it doesn’t have to be red. Tomatoes and other fruits of the vegetable garden are modern additions to what is a very ancient peasant food. (Although, I have been pretty strident on what gazpacho doesn’t include: no tomato juice; no canned tomatoes; no tomatoes dropped in boiling water to facilitate peeling them; no ketchup; no chicken stock or beef stock; no pepper or chile; no salsa; no beets or watermelon or strawberries.) (Here is another recipe for gazpacho with no tomatoes Peasant Gazpacho with Cucumber)

So, pear gazpacho it is. With the addition of ground almond meal, it has similarities to ajo blanco, a white garlic gazpacho made with almonds. While gazpacho is a savory cold soup, served as an aperitif, this one, with some tweaking, makes an excellent dessert!

Gazpacho needs a garnish, both for visual and textural contrast. Crispy croutons are good. Crunchy chopped scallions would go with the sweet pears. In honor of the tomatoes I have not got, I used chopped cherry tomatoes plus a little shredded basil.

Chilled pear gazpacho served with chopped cherry tomatoes and sprigs of basil.

Serve with crispy croutons or bread sticks.

Olive oil and bread give the gazpacho a creamy texture.

Pear Gazpacho
Gazpacho de Peras

Makes 4 (½ -cup) servings.

Pears, almond meal, garlic, bread.

½ cup bread crumbs (1 slice, crusts removed)
Water
2 cups diced pears (4 pears)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup unsweetened ground almonds
3 cloves garlic
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon Sherry vinegar
½ teaspoon aguardiente (anisette liqueur, optional)
Tomatoes and basil leaves to garnish

To make a sweet dessert pear gazpacho, omit the garlic and salt. Replace the vinegar with 1 tablespoon of honey. Use ¼ cup cream in place of the olive oil. Add a pinch of cinnamon or allspice. Blend the pears with bread, as for the savory gazpacho.

Place the crumbs in a small bowl and add ½ cup water. Soak the bread 10 minutes to soften. Squeeze out the bread.

Place the pears in a blender with the lemon juice (to prevent fruit from turning dark). Add the bread, ground almonds, garlic and salt. Blend until smooth. Add  the oil, vinegar and anisette if using. Blend to emulsify to a creamy texture. Blend in ½ cup water. Chill the gazpacho.

Stir the gazpacho before serving. (Add additional water if gazpacho seems too thick.) Serve the gazpacho in small cups, garnished with chopped tomatoes and shredded basil.

Follow the five-part “Gazpacho Diaries” for just about everything you ever wanted to know about gazpacho. A recipe for traditional Andalusian gazpacho is here.

More variations on gazpacho:

Cherry Gazpacho.

Cucumber Gazpacho.

No-Bread Gazpacho.

Gazpacho with Harissa.

White Gazpacho with Grapes (Ajo Blanco).

White Gazpacho with Pine Nuts. 

 Gazpacho Cream (Salmorejo).

More recipes with pears: 

Pear and Fennel Salad with Walnuts. 

Cheese-Custard Tart with Pears. 

Sangría with Pears. 

Pears in Málaga Wine.