Mr. Lake's New Orleans Forum

We ate this twice this week; served with some crusty garlic bread and topped with a dollop of creme fraiche. Oh, I have found the perfect wine pairing (gazpacho is a toughy, imo): Vouvray. Wonderful combo (thanks to an article I read on line somewhere). Yes, 100% VERY local (i.e. out front) tomatoes.

So do you prefer your gazpacho chunky or pureed? We like both, but this was a chunky veggie one.

Chunky

I go with pureed, myself. Yours looks gorgeous, though! My tomatoes failed this year, absolutely pathetic.

I never have developed a taste for gazpacho. I like salsa but it always seemed like watered down salsa. Maybe I need to taste yours to get me on track? I also think I fall in the group that says soup should be hot. I haven't had a Vouvray in a long time. Crisp and refreshing, no? That sure looks purty and I would not say no to a bowl of it.

I was just about to post that I was not a fan of gazpacho. God, schatze.

You know I don't like raw tomatoes. I will eat gazpacho sometimes and if I had to choose a texture, it would be pureed.

A few years ago, I was at a conference at a hotel across from the Convention Center. Our numbers were large, and the hotel was near the expressway--which made lunch a problem. The lunches were catered box lunches, probably the best solution. They weren't wonderful; they weren't terrible. Okay for what they were. In an attempt to provide some variety, one day's fare included a small bowl of gazpacho. On the way back to the conference, more than one attendee was heard to complain that they couldn't even get the soup right--it was cold!

I am a big fan, though i much prefer a highly pureed one to the chunky style. I pass my "broth" through a finely meshed sieve if I make it using a blender, but if one is accessible, I like using a juicer to filter out all the particulate matter. I finish the soup off with a big spoon full of chopped, slightly pickled vegetables and a drizzle of good olive oil. Sometimes, I'll add some cubed avocado or lump crab for added richness. I've been perfecting my recipe over a number of years, and here are a couple of my secrets:

1) Use approx. two cucumbers for every three tomatoes, but peel and seed them (the cukes) before you puree to minimize bitterness and greenness. The high cucumber content will tilt the flavor profile well away from salsa or bloody mary mix.

2) Be careful with the onion. i generally use 3 or 4 shallots per batch, but it's easy to over do it.

3) Try a mix of sweet peppers; red, yellow, and orange. the chlorophyll in green bells with impart a brownish hue in the finished soup.

4) if you end up with a thin-tasting or light pink soup, you can add a couple of tablespoons of tomato paste or that sun-dried stuff from the tube for color and depth of flavor.

5) If you like, you can re-blend your finished soup and emulsify a bit of olive oil into the mix for a softer, rounder flavor.

6) And the real secret, puree one tart apple (usually granny smith) with all of the other stuff. It will add a hint of sweetness and balance to the mix, as well as contribute a good bit of pectin for body.

Towanda!, I bet I know who said that.

Foodmuse, wow. You have obviously made gazpacho a couple two three times! I'm good for making it once a year, but I'm going to try a couple of your secrets next time. I like the apple idea a lot. I used to love the crab gazpacho at Eat on Dumaine. It was $$$ for a bowl o' soup, but worth it.

Love it & will take it either way, as long as it's good! Weak gazpacho you can keep!

FoodMuse, those are great tips! Thanks for sharing. Love the super secret #6. I'll keep that in mind for a few other tomato based dishes.


Isabella

I just can't wrap my appetite around cold soup. On a recent visit to J'Anita's the "soup du jour of the day" was vichyssoise and I passed on it. I do like leek and potato soup.