Creamy Gazpacho Andaluz

By MooK

Ingredients

• 3 pounds ripe tomatoes, cored
• 1 small cucumber, peeled, halved and seeded
• 1 medium green bell pepper, halved, cored and seeded
• 1 small red onion, peeled and halved
• 2 medium garlic cloves, peeled and quartered
• 1 small serrano chile, stemmed and halved
• kosher salt
• 1 slice of white sandwich bread, torn into one-inch pieces
• 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
• 2 tablespoons finely minced parsley, chives or basil leaves

Preparation

Step 1

Chop 2 pounds of tomatoes, half the cucumber, half the bell pepper, half the onion, place in bowl. Add garlic, chile, 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Mix.

Cut rest of tomatoes, cucumber, bell pepper into 1/4" dice. Mince the rest of the onion and add to diced vegetables. Mix in 1/2 teaspoon of salt and move to fine mesh strainer set over medium bowl. Leave it there for an hour.

Move drained and diced vegetables to medium bowl and set aside. Soak bread pieces in the liquid for one minute. Add soaked bread and any liquid with the roughly chopped veggies and combine.

Put half of the vegetable bread mixture into the blender and process for 30 seconds. While the blender's running, drizzle in 1/4 cup of oil and continue to blend until smooth, which should take 2 minutes. Strain soup through mesh strainer into large bowl, and repeat with the remaining bread mixture and 1/4 cup of oil.

Stir in the vinegar, minced herb, and half of diced vegetables into soup. Season to taste. Cover and refrigerate overnight.