Cuban Gazpacho Recipes

CUBAN GAZPACHO

Steps:

• Cut the vegetables in chunks. If you like, you can skin the tomatoes but it isn't necessary.
• Process all the vegetables in a blender in small batches with tomato juice and olive oil until you have a thick puree. Add tomato juice and oil with every batch to provide plenty of liquid.
• For the last batch, soak bread in warm water, squeeze out excess water, add the bread and blend well.
• Pour it all into a bowl or, like I do, a pitcher and add the vinegar and lime juice.
• Season with salt, pepper, and cumin.
• Mix well.
• Chill in refrigerator until very cold.
• Just before serving, garnish with all or any combination of the listed garnishes if you wish. The Italian in me likes a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

GAZPACHO

Steps:

• Roughly chop the cucumbers, bell peppers, tomatoes, and red onions into 1-inch cubes. Put each vegetable separately into a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse until it is coarsely chopped. Do not overprocess!
• After each vegetable is processed, combine them in a large bowl and add the garlic, tomato juice, vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Mix well and chill before serving. The longer gazpacho sits, the more the flavors develop.

CHUNKY SOUTHWESTERN GAZPACHO

Steps:

• Peel cucumber, but in half lengthwise, and scoop out seeds. Cut into bite-sized pieces and put in a 3-quart, or larger, bowl.
• Stem, seed, and cut the bell pepper into bite-sized pieces. I usually slide my knife over the inside of the pepper to remove the waxy part; add to the bowl. Peel and finely chop the onion and add it to the bowl.
• Add tomatoes, their juice, and tomato-vegetable juice.
• Rinse and drain black beans and add to the bowl. Add garlic, stir in the vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, and hot pepper sauce.
• Refrigerate for 2 hours or until thoroughly chilled, serve.

CUCUMBER GAZPACHO

Steps:

• Thinly slice one of the cucumbers to equal 1/3 cup. Transfer cucumber slices to a small bowl; cover and chill until ready to use.
• Coarsely chop remaining cucumbers and transfer to a blender. Add honeydew, bread cubes, 1/4 cup oil, vinegar, and 2 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt. Process on low speed, gradually increasing speed to high, until cucumber mixture is very smooth and creamy, about 90 seconds.
• Pour gazpacho into a medium bowl. Cover and chill until cold, about 1 hour.
• Right before serving, toss together reserved cucumber slices, feta cheese, mint, honey, and a pinch of salt in a small bowl.
• Stir and ladle gazpacho into 4 shallow bowls. Top evenly with cucumber-feta mixture and drizzle with olive oil.

GAZPACHO

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine the first 13 ingredients. Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours or until chilled. Stir in oil just before serving.