Speedy Summer Gazpacho
We often have soup for dinner on Mondays, when everyone is off to sports at different times, but it’s been too hot these past few days for anyone to want to eat soup. So today I made some gazpacho, which is a cold soup made out of raw, blended vegetables. Not only is it refreshing, it’s super quick to make too because instead of fresh tomatoes I use a tin of chopped tomatoes. Yes, fresh tomatoes would probably taste even better, but take longer to prep and then it wouldn’t be a speedy week night meal any more…
Ingredients
- 1 cucumber
- 1.5 red peppers
- 1 large clove garlic
- 6 spring onions
- 1 tin chopped tomatoes
- 10 basil leaves
- 1/2 cup (120ml) olive oil
- juice of 1 lime
- 1/4 to 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (depending on how spicy you like it)
- salt & black pepper
You will also need a blender or a blender stick.
Directions
Peel and roughly chop the cucumber (save the peel for vegetable scraps soup).
Core and roughly chop the peppers.
Peel and grate or mince the garlic.
Finely chop the spring onions, and 1-2 tablespoons aside.
Place everything except for the reserved spring onions in a blender, together with the tin of tomatoes, basil leaves, olive oil, lime juice. Add around a third of a tin of water – swish the water around the tin to catch the last little bits of the tomato.
Blend on high speed for about 30 second or until everything has been blended in to a smooth soup. Season to taste with the cayenne, salt & black pepper and blend again for 5-10 seconds.
(if you don’t have a blender, you can also toss all the ingredients in to a deep saucepan and blend them with a blender stick instead, but it might take a bit longer)
Serve sprinkled with the reserved spring onions and some chopped fresh coriander or parsley, depending what you like best (my youngest can’t eat coriander, he’s one of those people for whom it tastes like soap).
