Hello there! Hope this week finds you healthy and well.
Do you think summer and soup don’t go together? Well, I’m about to change your mind. Have you heard of gazpacho? It’s a cold Spanish soup made with ripe tomatoes, stale bread and a bunch of other vegetables. It’s totally yum!
Many of you wrote in to tell me how much you liked the Hard Times Tomato Basil Soup. Thanks so much for giving it a try. This one is going to be a riot on your taste buds, promise.
A writing update – I finished the first draft of the latest Dolphin Bay book. It goes on the back burner for now until I finish the next Pelican Cove book, Pancakes and Parrots. If you haven’t booked your copy yet, head over to the preorder page and do it now!
I spent an intense planning session this week for Pancakes and Parrots. My mind is reeling and I know writing this one is going to be a challenge. Expect plenty of suspects and twists and turns.
Gazpacho Recipe
You will need plenty of nice ripe tomatoes, some cucumbers, a little onion and green pepper, a sweet pepper or two, some garlic, some stale bread and really good extra virgin olive oil. I use smoked paprika to give it that authentic Spanish kick and also the smoky flavor. But if you don’t like it, you can just use sweet paprika instead.
This recipe is pretty forgiving in terms of proportions. So please use the recipe just as a guideline.
Ingredients
6 plum tomatoes
1 English cucumbers
1 small red onion
½ green bell pepper
1/2 red bell pepper
1/2 yellow bell pepper
2 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
pinch of cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2-3 slices whole grain bread
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
2 tsp sugar
2 cups+ water as needed
Salt to taste
2-3 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Method
Peel tomatoes and chop roughly.
Peel half cucumber and leave the skin on the other half. Chop these.
Finely chop quarter cucumber and set aside for garnish.
Chop the peppers, reserving some to finely chop for garnish.
Chop the red onion, reserving some to finely chop for garnish.
Add all ingredients to food processor or blender.
Add spices/seasonigs and grate or crush the garlic before adding it in.
Add a little water and blend until smooth. Add more water based on how thin you want the soup to be.
Refrigerate and serve garnished with the minced veggies and a squirt of more olive oil.
Optional – you can strain the soup through a colander if you want it super smooth.
That’s it. Isn’t it super easy? You can sip this any time of the day whenever you need a pick me up. I don’t have any recent photos so I am just sharing an old picture here, taken with an ancient camera!
Please send me your photos so I can share them with other readers here or on Faecbook.
I am going to try and write to you every week. You can look forward to more writing updates and cozy mystery recommendations at the very least.
Until next time, stay well!
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