Cold soup has never sat well with me. I have been intrigued by gazpachos for a long time, but never brave enough to try one. Last week I ran across this recipe on one of my favorite food blogs and decided to give it a go. All the Gazpachos I have seen were tomato based and this one was just calling to me. I have a few suggestions after making this: 1) this soup is better as an appetizer or side and not a main course. 2) I added some homemade croutons on top and added in some sliced grapes and it was awesome. 3) Holli bought me an immersion blender for Father's Day and it was way easier and faster than using a blender or food processor, so if you have one use it. 4) If you are using almonds that have the skin on, they need to be blanched to remove the skin. If you don't know how check this link out http://gourmet.lovetoknow.com/How_to_Blanch_Almonds.
I really liked this soup and making it didn't heat up the house. If you are brave enough to try a cold soup this one is a winner in my book. Enjoy!
White Gazpacho Recipe
INGREDIENTS
2 cups of crustless stale bread, broken into pieces
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock (use vegetable stock for vegetarian version)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup slivered blanched almonds (must be blanched, the skins are bitter)
2 cups green seedless grapes, sliced in half
2 cucumbers, peeled, seeded and chopped
1-3 chopped garlic cloves (depending on how garlicky you want the result to be)
2-3 Tbsp sherry vinegar or cider vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
Chives for garnish
METHOD
1 Heat the stock until it's steamy. Turn off the heat and add to the stock the broken up pieces of stale bread. Let cool.
2 Put the almonds, salt and garlic in a food processor and pulse until the almonds are pulverized. Add the soaked bread and any stock that was not absorbed by the bread into the food processor, then add the grapes and cucumbers. Pulse until the mixture is a rough purée.
3 Add 2 tablespoons of the vinegar and pulse a few seconds to combine. Taste and add the other tablespoon if it needs it – grapes can sometimes be acidic enough to leave out the final tablespoon of vinegar.
4 With the motor running, drizzle in the olive oil. Turn off the motor and taste the gazpacho. Add more salt if needed.
Chill before serving, garnish with chopped chives.
Serves 6-8.
