Classic Gazpacho Soup

SECRET INGREDIENT: bread

Most soups are enriched and thickened with cream or a mixture of butter and flour. Gazpacho achieves its body with a different thickener: bread. The bread is pureed right along with the vegetables in this no-cook soup, creating a satisfying texture as it allows the light, refreshing taste of the vegetables to shine through.

Ingredients

SOUP
• 1 pound fresh tomatoes, quartered and seeded
• 1/2 cucumber, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and coarsely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 small onion, quartered
• 1 slice bread, torn into pieces
• 2 cups low-sodium tomato juice
• 1 tablespoon tomato puree
• 2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

VEGETABLES
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and finely diced
• 4 scallions, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and finely diced
• 2 slices bread, toasted and cut into cubes

How to make it   20 minutes

• 1

  For soup, mix the tomatoes, cucumber, pepper, garlic, onion, bread, tomato juice, tomato puree, vinegar, oil, and salt in a large bowl. Ladle batches of the mixture into a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Pour the soup into a large clean bowl, then cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.
• 2

  For vegetables, place the pepper, scallions, cucumber, and bread croutons in separate serving dishes. To serve, ladle the soup into bowls over the vegetables.

Personalize It!  For a milder flavor, use 2 shallots instead of the onion. Or, if you like it spicy, stick with the onion and add 1 seeded, deveined, and diced jalapeño pepper (wear gloves when handling) to the vegetables. In very hot weather, add a few ice cubes to the soup just before serving to keep it well-chilled.