A summer gazpacho using garden fresh vegetables – no tomato juice or bread added. A spicy, chunky, cool soup that’s very tomatoey and perfect on a hot day.
I decided to make gazpacho since my tomatoes all seem to be ripen at the same time. This is not a traditional gazpacho – it has no tomato juice or bread added. It’s a thick, purely vegetable based soup that’s very tomatoey and delicious. It’s spicy and cool and slightly sweet – perfect on a hot summer day.
I hardly ever make gazpacho at home since I never seem to have tomato juice in the pantry. That’s what happened this time – lots and lots of tomatoes but no tomato juice. So I thought, well I have so many tomatoes why don’t I just puree some extra tomatoes to make up for the missing juice. Turns out you don’t need tomato juice to make gazpacho.
In an earlier test version of the recipe I tried using a blender – but it just did not work. Much too frothy, even the next day. So stick with a food processor.
A couple of notes:
- Did you know you can grate tomatoes? I did not know this until recently. It’s the easiest way to remove the skin from a tomato if you don’t want to boil and peel them and if you don’t have a food mill (which I do not have). You just cut the tomatoes in half – cutting through the middle (think of a globe – the top/stem end being the north pole and the middle being the equator). After slicing the tomato in half, gently squeeze out any seeds. Next, cupping the tomato in your hand – tomato skin closest to your hand – grate the tomato on the large holes of a box grater. The tomato skin will protect your hand and stay in one piece as you grate. You’re left with a puree of tomatoes and you can just discard the skin – it was so easy and I can’t believe how well it worked and how fast it was to do.
- Rather than adding all the vegetables to a food processor at once and pureeing, I put each vegetable individually in the food processor. This gave me more control over how chunky I wanted each vegetable to be. For example, I wanted the cucumber to be a bit more chunky than the red pepper – so I processed the cucumber for a shorter time – just pulsed until it was the desired consistency. The red pepper I processed for longer so it would be a smoother puree.
- I don’t like things too heavily spiced, so if you like things spicy and want a bit of heat then please up the amount of red pepper flakes or cumin.
- You’ll need to refrigerate the soup overnight. It really needs to blend/marinate overnight. So let it sit in the fridge overnight or even better for 24 hours before eating.
Gazpacho
A summer gazpacho using garden fresh vegetables – no tomato juice or bread added. A spicy, chunky, cool soup that’s very tomatoey.
- Prep Time: 30 mins
- Total Time: 30 mins
- Yield: 2 to 4
Ingredients
- 5 large tomatoes – grated (see note about grating).
- 1 large cucumber – peeled and seeded. I left a little of the peel on in strips.
- 1 red bell pepper
- 2 scallions
- 1/2 red onion
- 3 tbs red wine vinegar
- 1 tbs olive oil
- 3 cloves of garlic put through a press
- 1 tbs minced parsley
- 8 twists of pepper from a pepper mill
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1/2 tsp cumin
Instructions
- Grate 5 tomatoes (see note above about grating tomatoes) into a bowl.
- Process cucumber in food processor using the pulse button until you have a chunky puree. Add to bowl.
- Process red pepper in food processor until smoothly pureed. Add to bowl.
- Process scallions and red onion in food processor until finely minced. Add to bowl.
- Add red wine vinegar, olive oil, garlic, parsley, black pepper, red pepper flakes and cumin to bowl.
- Stir gently until everything is blended together.
- Marinate overnight (12 to 24 hours) and serve.
Fantastique, no tomato juice, why spoil something great. Doing it today with my fresh tomatoes from my garden.
Thank you for sharing.
Cécélia 😊
Hope you enjoy it, Cecelia!
I’m finding this long after you posted it, but I have been searching for a gazpacho *not* made with tomato juice. Why spoil garden fresh tomatoes with something processed? I will be trying this out this weekend.
Hi Donna – hope you enjoy it! I totally agree about the tomato juice!
This may be a silly question, but I have never had Gazpacho before. Is this something you would eat warm or cold?
★★★★
Hi Cynthia – Gazpacho is usually best in the summer when tomatoes are abundant, really ripe and super flavorful. It’s a cold, slightly spicy, tomato soup that’s really refreshing in the summer. So you may want to wait a bit to make it. If you’re a big tomato fan – you definitely should try it when the farmers markets (or your backyard if you’re a gardener) are overflowing with tomatoes. Hope that helps!
I love gazpacho! It is the perfect summer dish. There is something almost decadent about it, yet it’s so light and healthy! And great tip about grating your tomatoes, I never would have thought to do that. : )
Hi Crystal – grating tomatoes was new to me also. Am thinking of other ways to use the technique since I’m having a bit of a tomato overflow at the moment. I wonder if you can freeze tomato purée??? Have a good one!
A gazpacho recipe without bread and tomato juice is much appreciated because I hardly ever have either of those on hand. Your recipe is finally one that’d only require me to pick up one or two additional ingredients.
By the way: I’d offer up to take any tomato overload you have 🙂 – fresh from the garden are the very best ones. Maybe I can convince my mum to bring me some the next time she visits. I can only imagine this tastes even better with homegrown tomatoes.
Thanks, Miss Polkadot!! Definitely hit your mom up for tomatoes if you can – or maybe there’s a local farmers market near by. When you make it, let me know how it turned out. Have a good one.
Oh I have to wait a bit longer for the fresh tomatoes but I can’t wait to try this soup! It sounds wonderful!
Thanks so much, Barbara. Hope you make it once your tomatoes get around to ripening :).
This is a fabulous summer soup, Geraldine! I am a big fan of Gazpacho, especially when the tomatoes and cucumbers are fresh and in season! I’ve not tried Gazpacho with red bell pepper like this, so I am looking forward to making your recipe! How wonderful that your garden is bursting; the tomatoes are stunning! Thank you!!
Hi Traci: This was a good recipe to use up a bunch of tomatoes – but for the rest of the tomatoes, I’m like a tomato fairy – dropping them off at friends and neighbors houses! Enjoy.