Culinary Bazaar: Gazpacho - All the way from Spain!

I ate wayyyyy tooooo much last 2 days - Thanx to the Navarathri festivities! Hey, thanks a bunch for all your warm and thoughtful wishes, hope you had a grand time too!

As i was saying, i ate more than I can chew! Originally,traditionally, we are not supposed to include Onions and Garlic in our food, but down the line many don't follow that part of the tradition that much - I am as far away from that as I can! I cant think of cooking without Onions! I cook very less ( make that v.v.v.v less) items which abstains Onions. But we all love our customs and try to do as much as we can right? So I did cook the last 2 days without so much as a whiff of onions and garlic ..But oh boy! Did I eat! [yup this is the moment when u go back to the first line- read it,come back to this line and continue reading ;-) ]

Anyways, whenever we eat lots, the next couple of days is followed with mellowed down food and mostly consists of Soup in my home..I like to make it a one pot meal. This time wanted to try something different and tried Gazpacho Soup from my cookbook.

It is of spanish origin which is made of mainly bread,olive oil and garlic and is served cold. But additons are welcome indeed ; and I did make additions by way of tomatoes and served the soup warm - not cold! That along with some Zucchinni Patties made a wonderful dinner :) It is another one of those v simple meals which takes hardly any effort....here goes .

Ingredients

3 slices stale bread
2 cucumbers , peeled and seeded
about 6 large tomatoes
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 green chilly
3 garlic cloves,minced
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
croutons for garnish
Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Soak the bread in some water for 5 min.
2. Place the tomatoes in a bowl of boiling water. Leave it for about 15-20 min,then peel and chop the flesh.

3. Peel the cucumber, scoop out the seeds and chop the flesh.
4. Place the bread,tomatoes,cucumber,bell pepper,chilly,garlic,lemon juice,olive oil in a food processor with about 2 cups of water and blend till combined but still chunky ( not smooth )

5. Season it. Traditionally it is to be chilled for 1-2 hrs and then served. But my hubby likes things warm so, heated it till warm, topped it with some home made croutons and served it with hot Zucchinni Patties.