21 Jan Summer Gazpacho
Inspired by my recent trip to Spain, I am thrilled to share with you my latest experiment, which uses the almonds usually used in white gazpacho to replace the bread often used in the red gazpacho – genius! The result – absolutely delicious, even if I say so myself!
Serves: 4 as a starter
#2 portions of vegetables per serving
Ingredients:
- 40g almonds (fat)
- 2 cloves garlic (carb)
- 200ml water
- 4 large ripe tomatoes (carb)
- ½ red pepper – roughly chopped (carb)
- ½ green pepper – roughly chopped (carb)
- ½ cucumber – roughly chopped (carb)
- 1 small red onion – roughly chopped (carb)
- 1 tbsp sherry vinegar
- 1-2 tbsp olive oil (fat)
- 1 tsp sweet paprika
Place the almonds and garlic in a blender with the water and blend until smooth and creamy.
Add the chopped vegetables and blend again to a consistency of your liking. Finally add the sherry vinegar, olive oil and paprika to taste along with a generous pinch of Himalayan pink rock salt and a few grinds of fresh black pepper.
Serve in bowls over a couple of cubes of ice and decorate with some extra chopped peppers and almonds and a sprinkle of paprika.
TIP: You can also use a chopped hard boiled egg to add the protein element and some croutons made from either rye or spelt bread pan fried in a little olive oil and garlic.
Children love this soup when you serve the toppings in separate bowls for them to add their favourites themselves.