Gazpacho

Ingredients

• 1 kg ripe tomatoes, sun-ripened, at room temperature, cored
• 1 small clove garlic, peeled
• 1 medium cucumber, peeled, roughly chopped
• 1 medium green pepper, deseeded, roughly chopped
• 30 ml sherry vinegar, plus a little extra to soak the bread
• 60 ml best-quality extra-virgin olive oil, added in a slow stream while blending
• 1 slice day-old white bread, crust removed, torn, soaked in sherry vinegar before blending
• fine sea salt
• For the garnish
• 1 small tomato, finely diced
• ¼ small cucumber, finely diced
• ¼ small red onion, finely diced
• croutons, small, from day-old white bread

Method

1. 1
   Tear the bread and submerge it in the sherry vinegar. Allow it to soak until fully saturated and soft throughout — the bread must be limp, not merely damp, before it enters the blender; dry fragments will resist emulsification and produce lumps.
2. 2
   Place the tomatoes, garlic, cucumber, green pepper, and the soaked bread with its vinegar into the blender. Blend at high speed to a coarse purée, then, with the motor running, pour the olive oil in a slow, steady stream. This is where the dish lives or dies: a rushed pour breaks the emulsion and leaves an oily, separated surface; the finished blend must be uniformly smooth, with no visible oil pooling.
3. 3
   Pass the entire contents through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing firmly with a ladle to extract all liquid. Discard the dry solids of skins and seeds retained in the sieve. The strained soup should run clean and glossy, with no visible fragments.
4. 4
   Season with fine sea salt. Taste and adjust the sherry vinegar. Refrigerate for a minimum of four hours. The soup is ready when it is chilled to 4–6°C and the flavours have married into a single, coherent profile — the sharpness of the vinegar no longer standing apart from the oil.
5. 5
   Serve in chilled bowls. Arrange the diced tomato, cucumber, red onion, and croutons on the surface. The soup should arrive at the table ice-cold; any warmth collapses both the emulsion body and the aromatic freshness.