Directions

1. Gather and wash ingredients

2. Prepare tomatoes, put them in a bowl with salt and cumin.  Stir well and let sit for about 10 to 15 minutes.  You are trying to get the tomatoes to toss out their water (which you want for a later step) as they salt

3. Prep/chop the other vegetables and bread

4. Drain the tomato ‘water’ that the tomatoes have tossed off into a small bowl. Add the California Sherry Vinegar to the tomato water

5. Read in full before proceeding:  your goal is to soak the stale bread cubes in a bowl with the tomato water/vinegar.  If you think you don’t have enough tomato water or just don’t have time for the tomatoes to toss out the water here is your plan B.  Simply take the bread cubes in your hand and run them under the tap to soak with water—now squeeze out that water with your hands, toss the bread in the bowl and now add the tomato water and vinegar for a second soaking. 

6. Add all the ingredients (other than olive oil) to a high-powered blender mixing ingredients in layers for easier blending

7. Blend at high power for a few minutes but be careful not to heat the mixture with the blender action

8. Add the olive oil and continue blending

9. Now strain the gazpacho.  You may need a spoon to stir in the strainer.  This step is sort of optional BUT it really does produce a much nicer texture and eating experience

10. Refrigerate the strained gazpacho for at least an hour, ideally two.  Here is why: you want to serve gazpacho cold (and your tomatoes are going to be ambient). It is a supposed to be a refreshing starter. And you want to give time for the flavors to come together.

11. Optional:  Make topping to spoon on before serving.  Adds some texture and makes it more visually interesting.  All you do is finely chop a little bit of onion, green pepper, tomato, cucumber and mix it all with some oregano, salt, olive oil, and splash of sherry vinegar.

12. Plate: Taste you refrigerated gazpacho. Adjust salt and vinegar as/if needed. If you want it more liquidy add a small amount of ice water. Serve it in a bowl with some of the topping and a drizzle of olive oil on top. Or simply in a chilled glass as a smaller portion to drink (without topping)

13. Note on selecting tomatoes:  This dish depends on access to ripe and tasty tomatoes.  When I have doubts about how sweet tomatoes are going to be I put in some cherry tomatoes which tend to be sweeter and can cover the sins of less flavorful store-bought tomatoes out of season.  The color of the Gazpacho is driven largely by the tomatoes—for impact you may want very red ripe tomatoes (but if that yellow heirloom is tastier, I would just deal with the color difference…)

14. Note on prepping the tomatoes:  After you take out the ends of the tomatoes you can just hand squeeze them over the sink—the seeds center will just shoot out.  Do this for larger tomatoes, not for the cherry tomatoes (if using) but you want them all cut open so that the salt can penetrate

15. Note on bread:  You are going for stale bread that is of good quality. If you want the gazpacho to be redder you may just want to use only the whites of the bread—the crust will make it a little darker—I’ve never found this to be worth it on my end and it does not impact taste BUT presentation is everything sometimes so I leave that to you.