Refreshing, simple and delicious. Our quick and easy tomato and cucumber gazpacho is the perfect summer dish to keep you cool.
Why you’ll love our tomato and cucumber gazpacho
- No cooking needed, just blend
- Ready in just 10 mins!
- Flavoursome and not at all bland
- Perfect way to enjoy fresh veggies
- It’s healthy and nutritious
- And super REFRESHING!
What is gazpacho?
Gazpacho is a chilled soup from Spain. It is a traditional dish in Andalusia, where you can imagine a bowl full of refreshing raw veggies is just what you want to cool you down on a sunny, hot day.
Vegan gazpacho
Unlike most traditional Spanish cuisine, gazpacho is usually vegan. Raw blended veggies are the main ingredient – tomatoes and cucumber being two of the most popular. Olive oil, garlic, vinegar, salt and onion add flavour and seasoning.
The texture of gazpacho can vary across the country and according to personal preference. Originally gazpacho was made by pounding it in a pestle and mortar, but nowadays most people simply use a blender to quickly mix all the ingredients.
Bread is also often added to gazpacho to thicken it, and add bulk. It’s a great way of using up stale bread. In our recipe we leave it out as we find the texture and taste more refreshing without it. You can of course serve it with bread. Or if you would like to add some stale bread into the gazpacho, then add a little water to this recipe as well.
The stars of this dish are the vegetables. So choose the best, most flavoursome and organic tomatoes and cucumber you can get. We made this gazpacho with homegrown veggies from Paul’s Mum. This gazpacho is such a great way to use up a bumper harvest, when you’ve got more tomatoes than you know what to do with! And because the soup is raw you’re benefiting from all their delicious flavour and nutrients.
Best served chilled
To cool this tomato and cucumber gazpacho you can either chill it in the fridge after blending. Or you can add cubes of ice to the soup when serving.
As we have neither a fridge to chill things, nor ice in our van where we made this gazpacho we used the natural chilling power of the Danube instead. We propped up our container in cool water along the beach. A wave only tried to dislodge it once! Living in a van means you have to get creative sometimes.
With love from sunny Austria!
Sophie and Paul
Read next: 12 Vegan Spanish Recipes You Need To Try!
Tomato and Cucumber Gazpacho
Ingredients
- 4 tomatoes medium
- 1 cucumber large
- 1 onion medium
- 2 cloves garlic
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp fresh basil or parsley
- pepper to taste
Instructions
- Wash your vegetables well
- Peel the garlic and onion and roughly chop
- Roughly chop the tomatoes, cucumber and herbs
- Add all the ingredients into a blender and pulse until smooth
- Chill in the fridge before serving, or add a few ice cubes to cool it immediately.
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