Gazpacho from Extremadura

• 8 red tomatoes (ripe tomatoes are best)
• 100 g of breadcrumbs
• 1 onion
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 chorizo pepper
• 1 cucumber (small)
• 1 green pepper (small)
• Virgin olive oil
• Wine vinegar
• Lettuce leaves (optional for presentation)
• 8 dried tomatoes (optional for presentation)
• Salt
• Water

Step 1

We begin the recipe of gazpacho extremeño with the preparation of the vegetables. Take them all to wash them well and chop them into small pieces. Depending on personal preference, you can remove the seeds from the tomatoes or keep them. You will notice the biggest difference in the smoothness of the final texture. The reason we recommend chopping as much as possible is that this makes it easier to blend later. If you use a blender, of course, you can blend the mixture in the same way, although it may take a little longer. The only exception of all the ingredients is the onion, which is recommended to be chopped into larger pieces.

Step 2

Mix all the washed and chopped vegetables together except for the onion and garlic, which you should keep in a separate bowl. In any case, the garlic should be cut into very small pieces. Now proceed to mix the garlic and onion with the rest of the ingredients. It is important that they are generally all of a similar cut size, so that it will be easier to grind them together in a homogeneous way.

Step 3

The recipe for gazpacho extremeño has bread in its traditional preparation. Therefore, now is the time to add the breadcrumbs, a little extra virgin olive oil, vinegar and salt. Mix all the ingredients so that the flavour is balanced in all of them.

Step 4

We proceed to grind all the ingredients and whisk them together. The alternative by hand is also another option, bearing in mind that you will need more time and dedication to achieve a perfect sauce, without lumps and totally balanced. As with any gazpacho recipe, this is the turning point in its preparation. It is important to identify when the right texture is achieved and when it is necessary to add water to the mixture and correct the flavour with more salt, vinegar and oil.

Step 5

Once the mixture is ready, store the result in a container in the refrigerator so that it acquires its characteristic freshness.

Step 6

In this Extremaduran gazpacho recipe we recommend the presentation with lettuce leaves and dried tomatoes. Of course, you can add any extra ingredients you consider, to have a more personalised recipe, but keeping all the essence of this cold soup.