On a hot day there is nothing more desirable than a plate of cold refreshing soup. These soups are in various national cuisines, but is probably the most famous of such soup - it is Andalusian gazpacho. In Spain, every woman has a proprietary recipe gazpacho: someone puts in a soup herbs, someone makes the soup liquid and serves as a drink, someone uses only certain vegetables - creative possibilities are endless.

Before and after Columbus

Before the discovery of America in Europe is not aware of any tomatoes or peppers. However, gazpacho already existed then. Name gazpacho supposedly comes from the Arabic word that denotes the soaked bread. Initially soup consisted of bread soaked with vinegar and olive oil, and later it began to add a variety of succulent vegetables. Easy to prepare and inexpensive, gazpacho was a truly national dish, "the food of the poor", which allows to save power when the heavy work in hot climates.

With the advent of the Spanish tomato gazpacho image changed - this soup came into vogue. Empirically Spaniards found that juicy sour-sweet pulp tomatoes perfectly combines the classic gazpacho ingredients - bread, olive oil, vinegar and garlic. As a result, tomato gazpacho Gazpacho tomato - flavored dish for summer   It became so popular that in many reference books written that the soup is ready solely on the basis of tomato.

Of course, it is not. There are recipes for gazpacho without any tomatoes - cucumbers, beets, avocados and other vegetables. The restaurant menus can sometimes be found even fruit gazpacho - sweet soups based on mashed fruit. All these varieties are very tasty, although less common than the traditional tomato gazpacho.

Mediterranean diet

Diet passed on the Mediterranean Sea, the doctors found the healthiest in the world. In this region, only eating a lot of fruits and vegetables grown under the generous Mediterranean sun, as well as the useful olive oil, nutritious seafood and a variety of cheeses - sources of calcium. Distilled spirits in the Mediterranean region prefer natural grape wines.

In recent years, the popularity of the Mediterranean diet is rapidly growing - around the world, men and women want postroynet and heal your body, eating this way. Gazpacho - a perfect dish for the Mediterranean diet: this soup is not only refresh on a hot day, but also will benefit the health of its high content of vegetables and olive oil.

Elegant table setting

Gazpacho is not only extremely varied in composition - give this soup can also be a variety of ways. For example, the liquid can be poured into gazpacho pitcher, add ice and serves as a beverage. Bright and elegant soup served in glass bowls for assessing a beautiful shade of dishes. Of course, it can be used for serving and traditional dishes.

Sometimes gazpacho put on the table in a large tureen and around on small plates laid out a variety of add-ons: croutons, almonds, green beans, ham, olives, sugar, avocado, boiled eggs, celery Celery: vegetable with obvious advantages , Radishes, slices of boiled chicken meat, seafood and other additives. Every guest can add to the classic gazpacho favorite ingredient to create your own unique combination.

Relatively rare ingredients gazpacho does not turn into a homogeneous mash and served as a salad. This method of delivery, however, is not very common. According to many, the beauty of the gazpacho was in his uniform, satin-smooth consistency. To achieve this smoothness is not as easy as it seems at first glance: it is necessary thoroughly mix all the ingredients, so they turned to the emulsion.

Gazpacho with onions

To prepare this soup should take five large ripe tomatoes, two cucumbers of medium size, one onion (preferably sweet red onions, but the fit and the usual onions), two cloves of garlic, a fleshy red bell peppers, two slices of dried up white bread, a tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, a tablespoon of flavored balsamic vinegar, salt and spices to taste. The most convenient way to cook the soup using a blender - this unit will help quality grind and mix all ingredients.

Tomatoes are scalded with boiling water and remove the skin. Then tomatoes cut into small pieces. Cucumber peel and cut into small cubes. Unlike many other recipes, for making use of this option gazpacho raw sweet pepper - it should only release from the skin and cut into small pieces. With cut slices of bread crust and soak the slices in cold boiled water. When soften the bread, it should be a little squeeze and shift in the bowl of a blender, add to the tomatoes, cucumber, pepper and crushed garlic. Thoroughly grind all the ingredients, season with olive oil soup Olive oil: useful properties   and balsamic vinegar, add salt and spices to taste.

Ready soup in the refrigerator for a couple of hours to thicken. After that, gazpacho can be served to the table by adding a plate of sliced ​​onion half rings. If used for soup vegetables were not sufficiently juicy gazpacho get too thick. In this case, it can be diluted with cold boiled water.

Maria Bykov

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