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 

***   ***   ***

My new cookbook,

FLAVORS OF AL-ANDALUS, The Culinary Legacy of Spain, published by Hippocrene Books, is available from your favorite bookseller. For more about what’s in the book, see Meatballs with Backstory. 

This cookbook explores the fascinating story of the deep and lasting influences that Islamic culture has left on modern Spanish cooking. 

Author and Spanish cooking expert Janet Mendel tells the story of the Moorish influence on Spanish cooking through 120 recipes and photographs for modern-day dishes, from salads and vegetables to fish, poultry and meat to sweets and pastries, that trace their heritage to foods served in medieval times. Dishes from this era include exotic spices such as saffron, the use of fruits and almonds with savory dishes, and honeyed sweets and pastries. The flavors of al-Andalus live on in modern Spanish cooking and are what makes Spain’s cuisine distinctive from the rest of Europe. (Hippocrene Books)    

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SUMMER IS BLUE

 Blue as in blue fish. From the enormous bluefin tuna (atún rojo) to tiny fresh anchovies (boquerones, bocartes) and including a delicious array in between—swordfish (pez espada), albacore (bonito del norte), frigate mackerel (melva), skipjack (listado), bonito, mackerel (caballa), horse mackerel (jurel), trout (trucha), amberjack (pez limón), and sardines (sardinas)—their best season is summer. (Salmon also is a blue fish, but I’ve intentionally omitted it from the list because it is represented in Spanish markets solely by farmed fish from Norway.) 

Not all blue fish are blue. Although many are deep blue to silvery-blue, some such as red mullet (salmonete) are not. Blue fish are fatty fish whereas white fish, such as cod, are lean. Blue fish are especially rich in omega 3, the fatty acid that is known to be protective of heart health. They have deeply forked tails in contrast to lean fish with rounded tails.

In Spain, the almadraba tuna fishing season is just ending. The almadraba is a very ancient way of fishing tuna. The Phoenicians, who colonized southern Spain more than 3000 years ago, devised a system of capturing the tuna as they migrated from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. The almadraba nets, forming long chambers, like a series of corrals, are anchored to the bottom. Tuna swimming through on their migration to spawn in the Mediterranean are trapped in the nets. Fishermen in boats pull the nets into a tightening circle, until the huge fish are trapped in the middle. The men gaff them and haul them on board. It is an amazing sight.

The following recipe for grilled tuna with a red wine sauce might be made with any variety of tuna. The fish, cut in steaks or cubes, can be grilled medium-rare, especially apt for bluefin, or slow-cooked right in the sauce.

Tuna steak is grilled on a plancha, grill pan, served with red wine sauce and potatoes.

Red wine sauce with diced vegetables complements the meaty tuna steaks.

Too rare for you? Grill the tuna a little longer for medium.

Grilled Tuna with Red Wine Sauce

Atún a la Plancha con Salsa de Vino Tinto

Moroccan preserved lemons add a briny accent to the sauce. If not available, substitute a spoonful of capers. The tuna can be grilled on a plancha, a heavy grill pan, or, in full summer mode, on a gas or charcoal grill.

Thick-cut tuna steaks are best.

Serves 4.

3 tablespoons olive oil + more to sear the tuna

1 cup chopped onions

½ cup diced carrots

2 cloves chopped garlic

1 cup diced mushrooms

½ cup diced zucchini

1 cup peeled and diced tomatoes

½ cup red wine

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Chopped preserved lemon (optional)

Chopped parsley to garnish

Pine nuts, toasted, to garnish (optional)

4 tuna steaks, each 6-8 ounces

Heat the oil in a skillet on medium and sauté the onions and carrots until onions are softened, 5 minutes. Add the garlic, mushrooms, and zucchini and continue frying 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, turn up the heat and cook until tomatoes are reduced slightly. Add the wine and salt and pepper to taste. Cook the vegetables until the carrots are tender and liquid reduced, 10 minutes. Stir in the lemon, if using. 

Season the tuna with salt and pepper. Lightly oil a grill-pan (plancha) or heavy skillet and place on high heat. Grill the tuna steaks to desired degree of doneness (1 minute per side for medium rare). Serve the tuna accompanied by the wine sauce. Garnish with parsley and pine nuts.

Get it on with summer blues:

Grilled Tuna with Onion Confit.

Cantabrian Fishermen's Stew (Sorrupotún)

Grilled Albacore with Crumb Toppin.

Basque Albacore and Potato Stew (Marmitako).

Poke Bowl with Albacore.

Fresh Anchovies Marinated in Vinegar (Boquerones en Vinagre).

Lemon-Marinated Fried Fresh Anchovies.

Grilled Sardines.

Horse Mackerel, Biscay Style.

Fisherman's Wife's Mackerel with Vegetable Pisto

Bonito with Olive Sauce.

Roasted Whole Bonito.

Swordfish Brochettes.

***   ***   ***

FLAVORS OF AL-ANDALUS, The Culinary Legacy of Spain, will be published August 12, 2025! See Meatballs with Backstory for more about what’s in the book and to view several of the page spreads. See advance reviews at Advance Praise for Flavors of al-Andalus. 

This cookbook explores the fascinating story of the deep and lasting influences that Islamic culture has left on modern Spanish cooking. 

Author and Spanish cooking expert Janet Mendel tells the story of the Moorish influence on Spanish cooking through 120 recipes and photographs for modern-day dishes, from salads and vegetables to fish, poultry and meat to sweets and pastries, that trace their heritage to foods served in medieval times. Dishes from this era include exotic spices such as saffron, the use of fruits and almonds with savory dishes, and honeyed sweets and pastries. The flavors of al-Andalus live on in modern Spanish cooking and are what makes Spain’s cuisine distinctive from the rest of Europe. (Hippocrene Books)

$39.95 hardcover: Available in print and e-book in August 2025

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Promotion ends soon! Use PROMO CODE HIPPO40 for 40% off through June 30 on all Hippocrene titles at IndiePubs online bookstore.

***

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PISTO, A SUMMERTIME STEW

Pisto--a summertime stew with pork and vegetables.

Stew doesn’t have to be a slow-cooked, cold weather dish. Make it with summer vegetables and quick-cooking meat such as pork or chicken and it’s great for summer. You don’t need to serve it piping hot, either. 

Pisto is that perfect summertime stew. You might recognize this vegetable dish—a medley of tomatoes, peppers, zucchini and eggplant—as Provençal ratatouille. Or, confuse its name with pesto or pistou, a garlic-pine nut sauce. But pisto is authentically Spanish. Its origins are Moorish, although in that epoch it was a stew with eggplant and meat juices, no tomatoes or peppers, which are New World vegetables.

The pisto I learned to make in Andalusia is a strictly vegetarian dish that can be served hot, often topped with a fried egg, or cold, like a salad. But in La Mancha (central Spain), pisto usually has only zucchini, peppers and tomatoes—no eggplant. Often it has meat or poultry cooked with the vegetables, making a more substantial meal.

You can watch a very young Pedro Almodóvar making his mother’s recipe for pisto manchego and talking about life and film-making on a 1985 episode of "Con las Manos en la Masa" on TVE1. At one point he phones his mother to double-check the recipe. Her version has neither eggplant nor zucchini, only tomatoes, lots of green pepper and chunks of pork.

In hot weather, serve the stew slightly warmed, not hot. The meatless version of pisto is often served cold, with a spritz of vinegar, much like a salad or relish. It makes a nice side with fish or grilled chicken.

You'll definitely need some bread for dunking in the savory juices of this stew.

Pork and Vegetable Stew
Pisto con Magro de Cerdo

"Magro" means "lean"--as opposed to fat. But some fat keeps the pork juicy. Choose a juicy cut from the shoulder of pork for this stew. After browning, the pork needs only about 20 minutes cooking with the vegetables. 

If you’re using fresh tomatoes, grate them, saving the pulp and juices and discarding the skins. Canned tomate triturado, sieved tomatoes, can be used instead. 

Traditional pisto has no added spices or herbs. Which is not to say that you can’t season the stew to suit yourself—parsley, oregano, basil, cumin, chile. I have a prolific pepper plant on the patio, producing skinny green chiles (guindillas). I chopped a few of those and added to the medley. 

The usual accompaniment to pisto is bread, essential for sopping up the delicious juices, and often patatas fritas, fries. It’s also good served over rice or pasta or wrapped in a flour tortilla. Sure, go ahead and grate some Manchego cheese over it. This could become your favorite summer dish.

Ingredients for pisto, plus cubes of pork.

Serves 4.

1 ¼ pounds pork shoulder, cut in 1-inch cubes
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup olive oil
4 cups eggplant cut in ¾-inch cubes (about 1 pound)
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped green pepper
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
Fresh green chiles, chopped (optional)
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 ½ cups grated tomato pulp or canned sieved tomatoes
3 cups diced zucchini (about 1 pound)
Chopped parsley, to garnish

Sprinkle the pork with salt and pepper and allow it to come to room temperature.

Heat the oil in a heavy skillet. Add the pieces of pork and allow them to brown 1-2 minutes before turning them to brown the other side. Use a slotted spoon to remove the pork to a plate.

The vegetables and pork don't need additional liquid while cooking. After sauteeing, cover the pan to keep juices in.

Add the eggplant, onion, green and red pepper, chile, if using, and garlic to the remaining oil. Sauté, stirring, until onion is softened, 5 minutes. Add the tomato and zucchini. Return the pork to the pan with any accumulated juices. Season with salt and pepper. Cover the pan and simmer until pork and vegetables are tender, 15-20 minutes. 

Allow the stew to rest 15 minutes before serving. Garnish with chopped parsley.

These chiles, known as guindillas or piparras in Basque, are slightly hot. They're usually pickled in vinegar, but the fresh ones are a great addition to this vegetable stew.

More versions of pisto:

Pisto with Quail's Egg.

Pisto with Mackerel.

Chicken with Pisto, Toledo Style.

Pumpkin Stew.

FAST FOOD FOR SUMMER, MENU 2

Whether you’re busy with a summer project, working on a sun-tan, still enjoying vacation leisure or, groan, getting ready for a new school year (not in Spain, where the school term doesn’t begin until mid-September), August is no time for spending long hours in the kitchen.

I’m touting fast foods for summer, with menus that are a “flash in the pan.” See last week’s posting for tips and Menu #1. Here’s Menu #2, ready in 30 minutes.

Ready in a flash! Tomato-cheese salad and pasta with sizzling shrimp, garlic and chile. Someone please pour the cook a glass of chilled rosado.

Menu 2 (30-minutes)

Tomato-Goat Cheese Salad
Pasta with Sizzling Garlic Shrimp and Zucchini

Ingredients for salad starter and main of pasta with shrimp and zucchini.

This main dish is inspired by a favorite Spanish tapa—gambas al ajillo (called gambas al pil pil in Andalusia), shrimp sizzled with garlic, served in tiny cazuelitas with chunks of bread for sopping up the delicious garlicky oil. It’s absolutely only a tapa or, at most, a starter. But, spoon those sizzling shrimp over pasta and they make a terrific main.

I bought a bag of multi-colored cherry tomatoes at the market, and combined them with fresh goat cheese for a salad-starter. I don’t like vinegar with fresh tomatoes, so there’s no need to make a dressing. Just drizzle the tomatoes and cheese with extra virgin olive oil and plenty of salt. Finish it with chopped fresh basil, chopped mint or parsley.

Tomato-Goat Cheese Salad
Ensalada de Tomate y Queso de Cabra

Cubes of fresh goat cheese, cherry tomatoes and extra virgin olive oil. Pretty simple.

Queso fresco de cabra is a fresh, mild goat’s cheese. It is soft, not creamy, firm enough that it can be cut in dice.  If not available, feta or mozzarella could be substituted.

Serves 4.

1 cup vari-colored cherry and grape tomatoes
2 tablespoons finely chopped onion
½ cup diced queso fresco de cabra
Salt and freshly-ground black pepper
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Chopped fresh basil
Salad greens to serve

Quarter the tomatoes and place in a bowl. Add onion, goat cheese, salt and pepper and olive oil. Immediately before serving, stir in chopped basil. Serve on salad greens.

Pasta with Sizzling Garlic Shrimp and Zucchini
Pasta con Gambas al Ajillo y Calabacín

This pasta, called fideuá, has pinhole through it.

This qualifies as a 30-minute meal only if you start with peeled shrimp, fresh or frozen. (I peeled a heap of shrimp early in the day, while sitting in an air-conditioned room watching the afternoon news.)

I’ve used a cute pasta called fideuá, short curls with pinholes. You could use spaghetti or linguine cut into short lengths. Once you’ve got the water boiling for pasta, add some vegetables, such as diced zucchini, to cook with it.

Use tiny bird chiles whole or slice larger red chile crosswise. Or just use red pepper flakes.

Serves 4

1 tablespoon salt
2 ½ cups dry pasta (such as fideuá or spaghetti broken into short pieces)
1 ½ cups diced zucchini

For the garlic shrimp:
1/3 cup olive oil
4 cloves garlic, sliced crosswise
Dry red chiles or red pepper flakes
¾ pound peeled medium shrimp
¼ cup diced serrano ham (optional)
½ teaspoon pimentón (paprika), smoked or regular
¼ cup white wine
¼ cup pasta water

Grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Add the salt to a pot of water and bring to a boil. Add the pasta. Cook until it is nearly tender, 4-5 minutes. Add the diced zucchini and cook 1 minute longer. Drain, saving ¼ cup of the hot pasta water.

While pasta is cooking, heat the oil in a skillet. Add the sliced garlic and cook until garlic just begins to turn golden. Do not let it brown.

Add the chile, shrimp and ham, if using. Stir-fry the shrimp on high heat until they are just pink and curled, about 3 minutes. Skim out the shrimp and reserve them.

Remove skillet from the heat. Stir in the pimentón. Add the wine and return to cook 1 minute. Add the pasta water. Bring to a boil. Return the shrimp to the skillet and remove from the heat.

Serve the pasta and zucchini with the shrimp and garlic juices spooned over them. Grate lemon zest on top. Sprinkle with chopped parsley.

The sauce comes together from the garlicky cooking oil, a little white wine and some of the hot pasta cooking water.

Next week, Menu 3.

FLASH IN THE PAN!

The heat is on and I can’t get too excited about slaving over a hot stove. So I go for foods that cook in a flash, foods like boneless chicken breast, fish, shellfish, pork tenderloin, lamb chops or kebabs, ground meat, eggs, cooked ham.

Fast foods--pan-grilled fish steaks, blender soup, quickie olive sauce. Potatoes and beans cook in the same pan.

I add salads and quick-cooking vegetables, ready-to-serve starters and side dishes, fast and flashy sauces and, for dessert, either fresh fruit or store-bought ice cream, cake, pudding.

I couldn't cook without a blender and/or food processor, which make short work of smooth and cool summer soups; grated or sliced veggies for salads; fast-chopped ingredients for  sauces.  A microwave also saves time and, better yet, keeps a cool kitchen. 

Precooked foods save time at meal times. For example, in the summer, I like to keep on hand potatoes, boiled in their skins and well-chilled.  These can become instant potato salad, Spanish potato tortilla, fast fries, or, be slathered with garlic and olive oil for grilling.  Cooked rice, macaroni, green beans, garbanzos and other legumes are equally useful, hot or cold.  When you grill, take advantage of those dying coals to roast peppers, leeks and eggplant to be served, marinated, with the next day's meal. 

Summer meals needn't be served hot, hot.  Cook the food and let it set until folks are ready to dine.  Add sauces, garnishes and side dishes at the last minute.  If food gets cold, don't sweat.

I put together three flash-in-the-pan meals, ready in 30 minutes. My menus are inspired by Mediterranean foods and, especially, by what’s in my garden right now—terrific tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers and green and yellow beans.

Menu #1: a starter of chilled cucumber soup, fish steaks with olivada sauce, potatoes, beans and garden tomatoes.

1. Chilled cucumber soup; grilled albacore steaks with olivada sauce; potatoes, beans and sliced garden tomatoes.

2. Tomato-cheese salad, pasta with shrimp and zucchini.

3. Watermelon salad, breaded chicken cutlets with red pepper mayonnaise, cous cous taboulleh, microwave zucchini.

Ready, set, cook! Ingredients for a starter (cucumber-yogurt soup), main (pan-grilled albacore with olive sauce) and sides of beans and potatoes. All ready to serve in 30 minutes.

Menu 1. Cucumber soup, grilled albacore tuna with olive sauce, potatoes, beans and tomatoes.

Bring a pan of water to a boil. (You can save a little time by starting with hot tap water and covering the pan. Add salt once the water boils.) Add 4 medium potatoes (one per person). Cook them, covered, until almost tender, about 18 minutes. Add ½ pound green beans to the pan and cook until they are crisp-tender, about 4 minutes. Drain the potatoes and beans and refresh with cold water.

Once the potatoes are cooking, make the cucumber soup. Then start the albacore tuna steaks. While fish cooks, use blender to make the olive sauce.

Serve the cucumber soup as a starter. Peel and slice the potatoes. Serve with the tuna, beans, sliced tomatoes and the olive sauce.

Cool as a cucumber! Chilled soup is garnished with fresh mint.

Chilled Cucumber-Yogurt Soup

Serves 4.

1 large cucumber (12 ounces), peeled
1 ½ cups plain Greek yogurt
2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Freshly-ground black pepper
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Mint leaves
½ cup ice water

Cut the cucumber into chunks, saving a few slices for garnish, and place in blender or food processor with the yogurt, garlic, oil, ½ teaspoon salt, pepper, lemon juice and a few mint leaves. Process until smooth. Taste and add more salt, if desired. Stir in ice water.

Serve garnished with thin slices of cucumber and chopped mint.

Slather the olive sauce over tuna, potatoes and beans.

Albacore Tuna with Olive Sauce
Bonito del Norte con Olivada

Have the albacore (bonito) steaks cut at least 1-inch thick. I used three good-sized steaks, weighing more than 2 pounds, because I wanted leftovers for making Niçoise salad for lunch the next day. 

Tuna steaks (4-6 ounces per person)
Salt
Pepper
Thyme
3 tablespoons olive oil

Flash in the pan! Thick steaks of albacore tuna are cooked medium rare in the time it takes to brown them on both sides. Cook them whole and remove skin and bones to serve.

Sprinkle fish steaks with salt, pepper and thyme. Heat oil on high heat in a large, heavy skillet (such as cast iron). Add the steaks and cook until browned on the bottom, about 4 minutes. Turn and cook until medium-rare, about 4 minutes.

(More recipes for albacore tuna here.)

Cooked medium-rare, white albacore tuna stays moist.

Quickie Olive Sauce
Olivada

This sauce, which is somewhat like tapenade, is super quick to make. Slather it on the grilled fish, the potatoes, the beans. (Another version of olivada is here) Wild fennel is blooming near my garden patch, so I’m sprinkling some of the pollen on this sauce. (More about fennel pollen  here ) This sauce needs no additional salt, as the brined olives with anchovy contribute the seasoning. If you wish, thin the sauce with some of the drained olive brine.

By the way, if you’ve never tried anchovy-stuffed olives, you really should get some right now! They are totally addictive. (Here’s a mail-order source in the US .)

1 (350-gram/ 12-ounce) can anchovy-stuffed olives, drained
2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
¼ cup flat-leaf parsley
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Fennel pollen (optional)

Put all the ingredients in a blender and process until fairly smooth. Keeps, refrigerated, for up to a week.

Tune in next week for Menu #2. 

 

More of these to come from the garden!