This Green Gazpacho recipe is from Ottolenghi's book, Plenty. As he states in the book, there are a million recipes for gazpacho, which he says is his favourite cold soup. This one, a green variation is loosely based on tarator, a cold yoghurt and cucumber soup from the Balkans. A free standing blender works best but a stick blender could also be used.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes
Yield: Serves 6
Ingredients:
- 2 celery sticks (including the leaves)
- 2 small green peppers, deseeded
- 6 mini cucumbers (12oz/350g in total), peeled
- 3 slices stale white bread (4¼ oz/120g in total), crusts removed
- 1 fresh green chilli (or less if you don’t want it too hot)
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1 tsp sugar
- 5¼ oz/150g walnuts, lightly toasted
- 7 oz/200g baby spinach
- 1 oz/25g basil leaves
- 1/3 oz/10g parsley
- 4 tbsp sherry vinegar
- 1 cup/225ml olive oil
- 1 1/3 oz/40g Greek yoghurt
- about 2 cups/450ml water
- 8 3/4 oz/250g ice cubes
- 2 tsp salt
- white pepper
- Croutons
- 2 thick slices sourdough bread, (5¼ oz/150g in total)
- 4 tbsp olive oil
Preparation:
- Start with the croutons. Preheat the oven to 375°F/190°C/Gas Mark 5. Cut the bread into 1"/2cm cubes and toss them with the oil and a bit of salt. Spread on a baking sheet and bake for about 10 minutes, or until the croutons turn golden and crisp. Remove from the oven and allow to cool down.
- Roughly chop up the celery, peppers, cucumbers, bread, chilli and garlic. Place in a blender and add the sugar, walnuts, spinach, basil, parsley, vinegar, oil, yoghurt, most of the water, half the ice cubes, the salt and some white pepper. Blitz the soup until smooth. Add more water, if needed, to get your preferred consistency. Taste the soup and adjust the seasoning.
- Lastly, add the remaining ice and pulse once or twice, just to crush it a little.
- Serve at once, with the croutons.
