I thought I’d repost this fabulous soup, I was reminded of it when we stayed with friends Leslie Stratton Stern and John Head in Pearl Beach for a few delightful days a few weeks ago, Leslie made it for a starter.
I know what you are thinking – what is it with this woman and cold Gazpacho soup. Well it’s a delicious light lunch on a hot summer day and this green one makes me think I’m on some sort of health trip.
And this one is from Ottolenghi’s book “Plenty”. Apparently his favourite as well.
“There are a million recipes around for gazpacho which is by far my favourite cold soup… this one, a green variation, is loosely based on Tarator, a cold yoghurt and cucumber soup from the Balkans. A proper free-standing blender works best here but a hand-held stick blender could also be used.”
Ingredients – Serves 6
2 celery sticks (including the leaves)
2 small green pepers
6 mini cucumbers ( 350 g in total) peeled
3 slices stale white bread( 120 g in total) crusts removed
1 fresh green chilli (or less if you don’t like it too hot)
4 garlic cloves
1tps sugar
150 g walnuts, lightly toasted
200 g baby spinach
25 g basil leaves
10 g parsley
4 tbsp sherry vinegar
225ml olive oil
40 g Greek yogurt
about 450 ml water
250 g ice cubes
2 tsp salt
white pepper
Croutons
2 thick slices sourdough bread ( 150 g in total)
4 tbsp olive oil
Prepare
Start with the croutons. Preheat the oven to 190C/Gas Mark %. Cut the bread into 2 cm cubes and toss them with the oil and a bit of salt. Spread on a baking sheet and bake for about 10 minutes or until the croutons turn golden and crisp. Remove from the oven and allow to cool down.
Roughly chop up the celery, peppers, cucumbers, bread, chilli and garlic. Place in a blender and add the sugar, walnuts, spinach,basil,parsley, vinegar, oil, yoghurt, most of the water, half the ice cubes, the salt and some white pepper. Blitz the soup until smooth. Add more water, if needed, to get your preferred consistency. Taste the soup and adjust the seasoning.
Lastly, add the remaining ice and pulse once or twice, just to crush it a little. Serve at once, with the croutons.
Bowl is from from Mud
Links
Share this Post
Comments 3
Would love recipes for zucchinis as our one plant is producing faster than we can eat. We have been making the Courgette, thyme and walnut salad from Ottolenghi’s Simple (which is dee-licious) but need some variety now…
Author
Yum ….. I’ll see what I can do…Have you tried spiralling it and using instead of pasta? xx
Love this soup. Cold and refreshing. And healthy to boot.