Green Gazpacho

First - I have a new lens for my camera, so if pictures are a little wonky, please bear with me as I learn the differences between it and what I was using before. Thank you.

Second - this is the best hot-weather supper I've made in ages. I couldn't figure out what it might taste like from reading the recipe, but it's amazing. I made a few adjustments to the recipe to tailor it to what I had on hand, but not that many. Give it a shot - it comes together in practically no time at all. And if you omit the croutons, there isn't a whole lot going on that might heat up the kitchen.

Third - the recipe says it serves six. That might be more like serves six to eight. This made a LOT. And that was without the ice in it, which would have boosted the volume further still...

Yotam advises that a standing blender is the best way to prepare this gazpacho, but I imagine that would take many batches. I used my 12-cup food processor and still found I had to pour some of it into a bowl, prepare the rest and combine it all at the end. Not a hardship, but I imagine that might get a little tedious in a smaller standing blender... An immersion blender might do the trick, but as I have never really used one myself, I couldn't say that with any confidence. If anyone does try it with an immersion blender, can you please let me know how it goes?

This soup is loosely based on tarator, a cold yogurt and cucumber soup from the Balkans, according to the introductory text in the cookbook. A green gazpacho is a new concept for me, as most of the gazpacho recipes I have read prior to this feature tomatoes rather heavily. I really enjoyed the vibrant colour of this soup as well as the layers of flavour. And given that it's comprised mostly of green growing things, it tastes incredibly fresh. I think I am in love.

As usual, the recipe is directly from the book and the written description includes my alterations and observations.

Green Gazpacho
(p. 180, Plenty)

Serves six (or more)

Croutons
2 thick slices sourdough bread
4 tbsp olive oil
salt

Soup
2 celery stalks, including leaves
2 small green bell peppers, seeded
6 mini cucumbers (1 1/4 lbs), peeled
3 slices stale white bread, crusts removed
1 fresh green chile (or less if you don't want it too hot)
4 garlic cloves
1 tsp sugar
1 1/2 cup walnuts, lightly toasted
6 cups baby spinach
1 cup basil leaves
2 tbsp chopped parsley
4 tbsp sherry vinegar
1 cup olive oil
3 tbsp Greek yogurt
about 2 cups water
9 oz ice cubes
2 tsp salt
white pepper

To make the croutons, preheat the oven to 375F. Cut the bread into bite-sized cubes (Yotam advises 3/4") and then toss the pieces with the olive oil and some salt. Spread on a baking sheet and bake for roughly 10 minutes, or until the bread has crisped and turned golden. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool until needed.

To make the soup, begin by assembling and prepping your vegetables.

The first of my substitutions came here - I used large garden cucumbers rather than the mini ones due to cost, used one very large green pepper rather than two small, and added an extra stick of celery because my two were looking a little scant. Roughly chop all of the vegetables and place them into your blending option. I am going to say food processor going forward, as that was what I used. This amount of vegetables was already a substantial volume in the processor, so I went ahead and pureed what was there to give me more room to pile in additional ingredients. The results looked like this:

To that puree, add the bread, chile, and garlic. You can retain the chile seeds if you'd like it a bit hotter, or add additional chile to taste. I didn't have any white bread in the house (I rarely do) so I crumbled up and used the last chestnut scone in place of the bread slices instead, figuring with the nuts in the soup, the flavour of the scone wouldn't be a problem. It wasn't. You could probably get away without including any of the bread called for if you wanted to. Then I added the spinach, basil, vinegar, and oil. I omitted the parsley because I was out. Then I had to blend again as I was running out of room in the processor. To the results of the second blending I added the nuts, substituting the pecans I had on hand for the walnuts.

I blended everything together into a smooth puree, and then poured roughly half into the bowl I intended to use for serving as I was out of room in the processor with a few ingredients yet to add. I knew I was out of room because there was green juice sneaking out of the connection for the lid. It looked like the Hulk was bleeding on my counter.

To what remained in the food processor I added the Greek yogurt, water, salt, and the white pepper. At this point I thought I was going to include the ice, but then realized I didn't have enough in the freezer to chill both the drinks and the soup, and opted to reserve it for the drinks as I could settle the soup into the fridge for a decent stretch of time before my company arrived. So I combined the two portions of puree and stirred them together well before putting the bowl in the fridge.

If you like your soup thick, I advise leaving out the ice cubes. I made it this way and it had a lovely texture and body. If you prefer your soups a little thinner, add some or all of the ice, or additional water until you achieve your desired consistency. Taste the soup and adjust the seasoning if necessary.

Serve immediately and very cold.

We crumbled a bit of feta and a few of the croutons into the soup as a garnish and enjoyed it immensely.

I was really happy with the meal tonight: gazpacho and a strata I had made earlier served for the main course, and we had homemade coconut lemongrass sorbetto for dessert and Pimm's lemonade as our beverage. I wasn't sure all of the flavours would work together, but they did. An excellent meal shared with people I am quite fond of resulted in good conversation and the passing of a pleasant evening. It was exactly what I wanted today and I like it when things work out that way.