I forgot about gazpacho until early August, when Grace made me a blender full at her Rappahannock County home. I knew this refreshing summer drink began as a peasant lunch for Spanish workers in the south of Spain, the tomatoes and cucumbers smashed right in the fields with a mortar and pestle, and ladled out with wooden spoon. Authentic recipes call for 3 tablespoons of olive oil for every tomato: I’m sure the field hands probably needed this enrichment to finish out their day, but I add just a teaspoon or two for a pitcher. There are probably as many recipes as there are villages in Spain, but the main idea is simple – a refreshing mix of lush vegetables, picked at their peak and flavored with a little garlic, olive oil and vinegar. There’s a version with hardboiled egg; in Madrid, they’re likely to use cumin seed; and the “ajo blanco” version uses almonds and breadcrumbs, no tomatoes.
I’ve made it so often in the past few weeks that I don’t measure any more – if I have extra cucumbers, I just use more of them for a paler gazpacho, and we’ve been short of peppers from the garden, so I often skip them. I had some leftover stale Italian bread, so I added that to the food processor one night; I’ve also made it without bread crumbs. I just put three cored tomatoes, a peeled clove of garlic, and three peeled cucumbers in the food processor or blender, add olive oil and sherry vinegar, and blend until everything is smooth. Sometimes I put a little extra sherry vinegar on top, then grind the salt and pepper just before serving.
Sometimes I put in a little sweet onion, sometimes not. Gazpacho is best when there are a few chopped vegetables to serve on top, as it makes the texture more interesting. Add sea salt and fresh ground pepper to finish.
