Gorgeous Gazpacho

With the mercury rising and market’s bursting with exceptional vegetables at their finest, now is the perfect time to enjoy cold soups. Gazpacho is a tomato-based soup with Spanish origins. Traditionally, it’s made with tomatoes, cucumber and red peppers. The great thing about making refreshing Gazpacho at this time of year, the oven stays off keeping your kitchen cool. The other benefit is that each sip is loaded with lycopene – a red pigment antioxidant found in tomatoes that helps fend off a variety of cancers.


This is the perfect make-ahead soup as I noticed the flavours only got better after a day or two in the fridge. If you don’t have time to chill the soup before it needs to be served, try processing each batch with about 3 ice cubes.

Garden Fresh Gazpacho

Serves 6

Ingredients:

5 medium tomatoes, diced

1 English cucumber, chopped

1 red pepper, chopped

1/2 yellow or white onion, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

1 jalepeno pepper, seeded and diced

3 cloves garlic, chopped

Hanful of fresh basil, chopped

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon honey, agave syrup or sugar

1/2 teaspoon cumin powder

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Cilantro or chives

Instructions:

Combine tomato, cucumber, red pepper, onion, celery, jalapeno, garlic, and basil in a large bowl. Place half the vegetable mixture in a food processor or high-power blender such as a Vita-mix along with half the vinegar, olive oil, honey, cumin, salt and pepper. Process until desired consistency. Empty bowl of food processor and repeat with remaining ingredients. Chill for a couple hours but preferably overnight in the fridge to allow flavours to blend. Garnish with cilantro or chives and serve.