Sarah Jay's Gazpacho

Do I ever post a recipe that doesn't come from Fine Cooking or Rick Bayless?  I'm not sure.  But here's another one that we loved from Fine Cooking.  This one caught my eye despite the fact that I'm a diehard fan of the Moosewood Cookbook's Gazpacho recipe.  That one is not at all a traditional Spanish gazpacho, but it's so light and fresh and tastes so good for you its like medicine for the soul and a mouthful of summer all in one.  This one caught my eye because it was a recipe by Sarah Jay, who once served me the best Paella I've ever eaten when we were both visiting our husbands at a residency at the lovely Millay Colony, back before I'd ever heard of Fine Cooking, where she worked.  I was never tempted to repeat her Paella after seeing how much washing up it required, but I figured I could handle a cold tomato soup. 

The recipe is adapted from the traditional one by her Spanish mother-in-law, and it tasted so much like the ones we ate in Spain!  It was full-bodied and smooth on the tongue.  It's a totally different creature than the Moosewood Gazpacho, but I adore them both.  Such a nice way to enjoy these late summer tomatoes!

Gazpacho

by Sarah Jay

Best served icy cold, gazpacho needs to be chilled for at least an hour. Here it's garnished with croutons for crunch and cilantro for a burst of bright flavor, but chopped cucumbers and onions are another traditional garnish. Serves 4 or 5

1-3/4 lb. ripe tomatoes, cored and coarsely chopped (about 4 cups)
1/2 medium green bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and coarsely chopped (3/4 cup)
1/2 small red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and coarsely chopped (1/2 cup)
1/4 cup packed torn fresh bread, such as a soft baguette, Portuguese roll, or slice of white sandwich bread, plus 1/4 cup packed 1/2-inch cubes (crusts removed) for croutons
9 Tbs. good-quality extra-virgin olive oil; more for drizzling
2 tsp. sherry vinegar
1 small clove garlic
Kosher salt
Ground cumin
1 Tbs. chopped fresh cilantro 

Put the tomatoes, bell peppers, torn bread, 6 Tbs. of the olive oil, the vinegar, garlic, 1 tsp. salt, and a pinch or two of cumin in a blender. Pulse until coarsely puréed, then blend until very smooth, 4 to 5 minutes (it may be a bit frothy). Season to taste with salt and refrigerate until very cold, at least 1 hour.
Meanwhile, heat the remaining 3 Tbs. olive oil in an 8-inch skillet over medium heat. Add a bread cube; if it sizzles immediately, add the remaining cubes (if it doesn’t, continue to heat the oil). Cook, stirring frequently, until golden brown all over, about 1 minute. Transfer the croutons to paper towels to drain and cool.
Taste the gazpacho just before serving and adjust the seasonings as needed. Serve drizzled with oil and garnished with the croutons and cilantro.

Make Ahead Tips

The gazpacho can be made up to 2 days ahead and refrigerated, covered. The croutons should be made the day of serving the gazpacho.

Food in Spain - day 2

We had reservations for 9:00 am at the Prado Museum in Madrid, but found that there is no place open for breakfast before 9 - not even the bread shops or grocery stores. We made our way to the Prado by metro, then dashed into a little coffee shop at 9 and grabbed some croissants, hot chocolate and fresh squeezed orange juice. Delicious, but rushed, since we knew if we didn't get there by 9:15, we might lose our chance. There was no line at the museum entrance for prepaid reservations, and we lost ourselves in the museum for hours. We grabbed another simple meal at the cafeteria there - as little food as possible because it was so expensive. A tortilla (egg and potato frittata), some salad greens, a couple of slices of bread and a bottle of water. Zoe and I abandoned Clay to his wanderings at about 2:00 and headed out to the botanical gardens and a walk through the edge of Retiro Park, then went to Mallorca, a high end food shop, to buy stuff for dinner. We got a selection of little sandwiches, some pastries, cheese, a small salad. Zoe and I had a lot of fun picking things out - it was all so lovely and appealing. Then we went to a grocery store and got some cheaper food to round it out - a bag of spring greens, a baguette, and drinks. We met Clay back at the hotel and ate the little sandwiches and drinks in the plaza in front of the hotel before heading out to the airport for our flight to Barcelona. We got there quite early and had a leisurely gourmet dinner - a big salad, a huge wedge of brie with baguette, and then the pastries (looking a little worse for the wear in this photo). We all had to have a taste of each one. My favorite was the millefiore. Lots of thin layers and pastry cream. The one on the lower right was chocolate orange, one of my favorite flavor combinations.

Food in Spain - day 1

It's really hard for me to remember to take a photo of a great dish before I dig into it. My first attempts at getting photos of our meals in Spain were of mostly eaten food. Zoe took a few good ones, though. These are from our first day in Madrid. After dropping our bags at the hotel, we went to Chocolateria San Gines, a little place for churros and hot chocolate. They've been selling the same thing there for over 100 years, and the place is full of character. 3 euros for fresh churros and the thickest, darkest chocolate you can imagine for dipping them in. Here we've already eaten most of the churros. Eating this too often I'm sure would kill you. We couldn't even finish it all. The churros come without any sugar, and we only sprinkled on a little of the powdered sugar on the table for the photo. They are hot and crunchy and greasy and contrast so beautifully with the dark chocolate.

After wandering around the main plazas and visiting the Palacio Real, we headed back to the Mercado de San Miguel (just off the Plaza Mayor, where they used to have bullfights and inquisition executions) for some pinxos (I think that was the word they used for these - little slices of bread with various "pinches" of toppings on them.) The market is full of gorgeous displays of foods, and in the afternoon it was packed with people buying bits and drinking. We had already eaten most of the cheeses before we started taking pictures of what we chose to eat, but there's a shot of the fish ones and the cheese shop. The fish: smoked salmon, some kind of tuna, white fish, a seasoned ricotta-type cheese spread with caviar, and I don't remember what the last one was. We got a plate of cheeses, too, with a couple of goat cheeses (fresh and aged), some really creamy brie type of cheese, and manchego (that was the only cheese name I could understand). We also got some bread, and finished with the tiniest ice-cream cones ever.