I wish I had considered the pain-and-drain effects of Philadelphia’s summer
heat before we moved here, but you can’t think of everything, I suppose, and we
had other, apparently more serious things on our minds in 2006-7. (I wish I could remember what they might have
been.) Although our June-August swelters are terrible, one
blessing is that they propel one into chilled summer soup-making. The gazpacho
recipe below, an excellent and traditional version appearing in Peter
Feibelman’s The Cooking of Spain and
Portugal, made its 2014 re-appearance in our house earlier this week. It rekindled very old memories (I’m fairly
certain my mother used this recipe or a very similar one from my childhood days
onwards) and it turned out so well that
I’m sure this week’s rendition will create its own pleasant memories.
I first tasted gazpacho in Segovia,
Spain under the shadow of the city’s famous Roman aqueduct when I was 8 years
old. I was in Europe for
the first time and my parents wanted to visit this ancient small city close to Madrid to
see this engineering marvel and, I expect, have lunch in the
excellent restaurant we visited.
This was still Franco’s Spain and there was a palpable,
serious and formal overlay on everything we experienced, which
was reflected in women’s very traditional clothing, the serious expressions
on men’s faces and of course the omnipresence of the Guardia Civil, who carried
machine guns. I have never forgotten any
of the palaces and monuments we visited, especially the Valle de los Caidos, with its haunting huge
rock cross dominating the valley plain and its considerable resident population
of indigent Spanish Civil War survivors, many of them amputees, begging alms.
On our initial European trips as a couple, Caroline and I always traveled to
Spain, based on a combination of genuine interest, in order to stretch our
dollars (Spain was considered a bargain spot in the later 1970s and early 1980s),
and to spend time with a friend who lived in Mallorca. We would always split our trip into two parts,
staying half the time in luxury hotels or romantic (and fairly luxurious) paradors in mainland cities and towns,
and the
other half for free as a guest at our friend’s house in Deyà on the Mallorcan
coast. It was the best of
both worlds, as they say, and we were privileged to enjoy a lot, learn a lot and make
friends in new places. On our very first
trip, I made sure to take Caroline to Segovia, which she loved as
much as I did. We took a bus excursion there
with a lovely group of Catholic pilgrims from South America, who were mainly
focused on visiting Ávila, another destination on the day-tour, and
paying their respects to Saint Teresa.
Next summer, when Jane has finally bidden Baldwin farewell and shaken
off high school horrors, we will be taking our first family
trip to Spain and the Balaerics.
Our current plan is to visit Barcelona, the world’s most wonderful party town,
first and then proceed to Mallorca to visit Kevin’s grave, Sóller,
Palma and perhaps even finally see Chopin’s piano. We’ll hop over to Minorca and Ibiza, and conclude things
in Madrid, where we will show Jane the Prado, our favorite restaurants, and drive
out to Segovia, Ávila and the Valle de
los Caidos, which I’d like to experience as an adult.
If I could have included Kevin Ayers’ song, Running In The
Human Race, here I would have, but it isn’t on youtube,
unfortunately. Recorded in the back
seat of a Palma taxi, it sums up my current thoughts and mood perfectly. So, instead I’ve substituted I’m All Alone by Slapp Happy, from the great Sort Of record.
GAZPACHO
COLD FRESH VEGETABLE SOUP
To serve 6 to 8
SOUP
2 medium-sized cucumbers,
peeled and coarsely chopped
5 medium-sized tomatoes,
peeled and coarsely chopped
1 large onion,
coarsely chopped
1 medium-sized green pepper,
deribbed, seeded and coarsely chopped
2 teaspoons finely chopped garlic
2 to 3 cups coarsely crumbled French
or Italian bread, trimmed of crusts
4 cups cold water
¾ - 1 cup red wine vinegar
4 teaspoons of salt
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon tomato paste
GARNISH
1 cup 3-inch bread cubes,
trimmed of crusts
2 cup finely chopped onions
2 cup peeled and finely chopped cucumbers
2 cup finely chopped green peppers
In a deep bowl, combine
the coarsely chopped cucumbers, tomatoes, onion and green pepper, garlic and
crumbled bread, and mix together thoroughly.
Then stir
in the water, vinegar and salt. Ladle the mixture, about 2 cups at a time, into the jar of a
blender and blend at high speed for 1 minute, or until reduced to a smooth purée. Pour the purée into a bowl and with a whisk beat in the olive oil
and tomato paste.
(To
make the soup by hand, purée the vegetable and bread mixture
in a food mill
or, with the back of a large spoon, rub
it though a sieve set over a bowl. Discard any pulp left in the mill or
sieve. Beat the olive oil and tomato
paste in the purée.)
Cover
the bowl tightly with foil or plastic wrap and refrigerate for
at least 2 hours, or until thoroughly chilled.
Just before serving, whisk or stir the soup lightly to recombine
it. Then ladle it into a large chilled tureen or individual soup plates.
Accompany the gazpacho with the bread cubes and the vegetable
garnishes presented in separate serving bowls to be added to the
soup at the discretion of each diner.
NOTE:
if you prefer crisp
croutons for the garnish, fry
the bread cubes. In a 6-to-8-inch
skillet heat 1/4
cup of olive oil over moderate heat until a light haze forms over it. Drop
in the bread cubes and, turning them frequently,
cook them until they are crisp and golden brown on all sides. Drain on paper towels and cool.
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