In the summer I rarely eat any soup - I think of soup with the cooler months, with ingredients like lentils, pumpkin, sage, squash, and things like seafood and meat and one of my favorites - mushrooms. As I write blog posts in the cooler months, you might figure out that I’m completely obsessed with mushrooms of all kinds, but mostly the very textured, dark, bold flavored types. But anyway, I decided I felt like a chilled soup was in order this week - and I picked gazpacho - I haven’t had one in ages. And I went with Ina Garten’s recipe.
Some of the ingredients include coarsely chopped tomatoes, red bell pepper, red onion (my advice - back off on this one just a bit - a whole red onion is extremely intense on day 1 of the soup - a bit more tame on day 2 but be careful - you may want to opt for half an onion or play it extra safe with a large shallot - and definitely go with a finer chop on this!), cucumber (which helped cool the palate with all the other flavors going on), minced garlic (again, go easy on this one - she calls for 3 cloves - but probably smaller than the cloves I used - because the flavor is powerful when garlic is raw!), tomato juice, good quality olive oil, white wine vinegar, kosher salt, and freshly ground black pepper. I think that was everything I used. If I were to add anything, it would be some fresh parsley or cilantro. Use the food processor for the vegetables for sure, and let it sit covered in the refrigerator overnight, the flavors marry well and I enjoyed it more on day 2 actually.I served it alongside seared chicken breasts and a simple salad of mixed dark greens, chopped pecans, finely grated parmigiano reggiano, and my basic salad dressing that takes me literally one minute to whisk and prepare - olive oil, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, honey (I prefer wildflower over clover but the choice is yours), black pepper, kosher salt, and a dash of garlic powder. The entire salad preparation takes no more than 5 minutes tops.
And the wine I picked was a 2009 Chateauneuf-du-Pape - in case you’ve heard of it or tried it but don’t know much about Chateauneuf, it means “new house of the Pope,” lots of history there worth reading about, based near Avignon in the Southern Rhone Valley region of France, where Grenache is the dominant grape, often blended with Syrah and Mourvedre (as was the case here), but may include up to (I believe) 13 different grapes. Chateauneuf is a bit on the pricey side but if you find one you love, believe me when I say it’s worth every cent. When properly executed, they’re a great blend of fruit, spice, and earthy notes, a rich deep red color, and enough acidity to pair well with lots of foods from cheese platters to tomato soup to duck to ribeye steak. (I find that lots of people have heard of Chateauneuf but don’t know what it is, except that it’s a fairly expensive French wine - read up a bit on it and start tasting!)
So, why did I choose Chateauneuf? Well, I would have chosen a Spanish wine to pair with a soup of Spanish origin like gazpacho, except that, truth be told, I already had the Chateauneuf open, and fortunately, Chateauneuf is made of similar grapes to Spanish reds, particularly those made up of Grenache and/or Mourvedre (in Spain they’re called Garnacha and Monastrell and while they’re quite different in Spain from the way they’re used in France, I still love the elegance and spice and lovely texture of these wines). Anyway, it was a nice pairing and a fun thing to enjoy on a summer evening on the porch.
Gazpacho is simple to make - just find a dependable recipe, don’t use to much onion or it won’t show enough tomato characteristics, and I think the cucumber is a must - it works so well since the soup is chilled. I don’t think it took me more than 20 minutes to make the whole thing. And I do recommend making it the day before you intend to consume it - let the flavors work together overnight.
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