Ina Garten-Inspired Gazpacho

Compiled by Igor Kukolj, Editor. Nobody here has cooked this — how these are made.

Most gazpacho made at home is thin, separates in the bowl and tastes like cold salsa. The missing ingredient is in the bin.

A handful of stale bread, soaked and blended in, lets the olive oil emulsify into the vegetable juice instead of floating on it. That is what turns a watery red liquid into something pale, opaque and faintly creamy — the texture that makes Andalusian gazpacho a soup rather than a drink. The bread contributes almost no flavour and is not there to thicken. It is an emulsifier.

Then pour the oil in slowly, with the blender running, exactly as you would for mayonnaise.

Salt the vegetables and wait

Chop everything, salt it, and leave it half an hour before it goes near the blender. The salt draws juice out of the tomatoes and cucumber, and that juice is the liquid in the soup. Skip it and the temptation is to add water, which dilutes the only thing you have.

It is not ready on the day you make it

Gazpacho needs at least four hours in the fridge and it is genuinely better the next day. Raw garlic and onion are harsh at first and settle; the tomato comes forward. Tasting it immediately after blending will tell you almost nothing about what you have made.

Season it again after chilling

Cold blunts both salt and acid. A gazpacho seasoned perfectly at room temperature tastes flat straight from the fridge, and the fix is not more oil — it is another pinch of salt and a splash of vinegar, judged cold, just before it goes out.

Storing

Three days, covered, in the fridge. It separates as it stands, which is normal; whisk or blend briefly before serving. It does not freeze — the emulsion breaks and the vegetables go grainy.