Gazpacho with Frico

How has it been that, until now, I’ve never eaten or made gazpacho?  For some reason the thought of a cold veggie soup just didn’t sound good.  But boy, have I missed out!!  I made gazpacho for the soup course in my folk’s 10-course anniversary dinner…and I am a convert!  It was delish – especially with the addition of salty, crunchy frico.  Perfect for a hot summer day!

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

  • 21 oz of red, ripe tomatoes (about 6)
  • 2 sm red peppers
  • 1 cucumber
  • 2 scallions
  • 1 garlic clove, peeled
  • 1/2 c olive oil
  • 2 T red wine vinegar
  • Water, to thin to preferred consistency
  • Salt & Pepper
Blanch tomatoes to remove peels*.  Deseed the tomatoes & reserve 1 tomato for topping.  Deseed red pepper & reserve 1/4 to 1/2 of one for topping.  Peel the cucumber & reserve 1/4 for topping.  Remove roots from scallions & reserve 1/4 of green part for topping.
 
Put all ingredients into food processor & blend.  Add water to make consistency a bit thicker than tomato juice.  Chill for at least 1 hr.  
 
Chop reserved vegetables into small pieces.
 
To serve, ladle into bowls, top with chopped veggies & add 1 piece of frico (see recipe below).
 

*To Blanch Tomatoes:  With a paring knife, cut shallow X into bottom of tomatoes.  Bring pot of water to rolling boil.  Add tomatoes & boil for 60-90 sec.  Immediately drain tomatoes & put into ice water to cool.  When cool, use paring knife to remove skins.

To Make Frico:

Makes 8 servings

Ingredients

  • 1/2 c Parmesan cheese, finely grated
  • Pepper
Preheat oven to 375 deg.  Line baking pan with parchment paper.
 
Scoop 1 T of cheese onto prepared baking sheet.  Evenly spread cheese out to about 3″ wide & 1″ apart.  Sprinkle pepper on top.
 
Bake until light browned & melted, about 5-6 min. Remove from oven & let cool on baking sheet until crisp.

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