Recipe: Gazpacho

For those of you that don't know, Gazpacho is a traditional spanish vegetable soup- that is served cold. Sounds like a strange dish, but it is absolutely delicious, healthy and refreshing. I served these as part of a canape night- had my first ever paid canape job the other day!! It was so exciting and I think everything went down really well. I was only left with 7 canapes after making 200 of them, so im guessing everyone liked the food. Nick made me some business cards too, I feel like a "real adult" now that I have business cards! This recipe works very well just as a bowl of soup,with some nachos on the side, not only just as canapes- when making it as a soup or starter, you dont need to add the water. The water is needed in the canape mix so that it's a thin enough texture to drink from the shot glasses.

Gazpacho (makes 40 shots)

Ingredients:

1/4 Red onion
1 Cucumber
500g Ripe Tomatoes
1 Clove of Garlic
1 red pepper
200ml tomato juice
200ml water
2 tbsp cider vinegar
2 tsp sugar
Lots of salt and black pepper to taste
Fresh basil for garnish

1. Roughly chop onions, cucumber, tomato and garlic. Deseed the pepper and roughly chop.
2. Place all of these ingredients in a blender, and blend until completely smooth. Since this recipe makes a lot, liquidise the ingredients in batches, depending on the size of the blender. You may need to add more water, add as much as you need until you have a “shot-drinkable” consistency.
3. Season to taste, and chill in the fridge for at least 20 minutes. Serve with some freshly chopped basil leaves.