Summer Gazpacho for Dinner

Berlin is hot, hot, super hot at the moment. Having a toddler 24/7 and this heat makes me so unproductive and lazy. But as I need to get some things done, I decided to go pick up my new WMF pots in West Berlin with the help of a friend. (He is tall enough to carry the big boxes)

But on our way back, we got a bit hungry, so I thought why not make a quick Gazpacho? It was pretty late so my kitchen was kind of dark but still wanted to share this with you.

The main thing about Gazpacho is the ingredients. As they won't be cooked, you have to be sure that you have good quality veggies and your tomatoes should be as ripe as possible. 
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Ingredients:

8 Ripe Tomatoes or 2 cans of 400 gr of shredded tomatoes 
a handful of cherry tomatoes
1/2 Cucumber
1/2 Paprika or 5 small ones (like in the picture)
2 garlic cloves
1 Shalott
50 ml white wine Vinegar
2 tbsp Olive oil
Salt & Pepper
Fresh Chives or any other herb

Now it is chopping time. We will be cutting 2 different things: Soup and Topping. Start chopping 1/4 of your cucumber in thin slices and then cut the slices in 4. Do the same with your paprika, cut 1/4 of your paprika in thin stripes and last but not least, cut about the half of your cherry tomatoes in half. Put all these ingredients in a small bowl and sprinkle some oil to it and let it rest..

Chop the rest of the ingredients in small dices and add vinegar, oil, salt and pepper and let it rest in the fridge for 15 minutes or more (if you have time). Make sure that you mix it well so all the flavours will combine.

Put this mix in a blender until smooth.  I like to strain my Gazpacho but not with a very fine sieve, so I actually use my potato press just to remove the seeds. You still feel the vegetables and it isn't that fine. But if you like to have a good old-fashioned Gazpacho, get the whole pure through a very fine sieve. Get your soup in a jar and put it back in the fridge until you will be serving it.

For serving, add a spoon-full of the topping mix and serve the soup over it. I have this vintage hen jar that I had for many many years and I love how it looks when I serve soups from it.  With a spoon serve some more topping in the middle and sprinkle olive oil over it. Do not spare on oil! It just makes your soup taste better! 

Cut and sprinkle some chives or fresh herbs over your Gazpacho, it gives it a great aroma. Toast some bread and enjoy with Cold Grüner Veltliner or a dry Rosé if you are a fan of Rosé.

All Pictures were Made by Christian Mentzel... I tortured him as art director to see the picture outcome. It was really hard not to be the one making the pictures though ;)