Gazpacho Soup Recipe

Autumn is looming and I greedily salvage the last of the ripening tomatoes and exuberantly bolting lettuces before the imminent frosts turn them all the dreary mush. Unexpectantly warm late summer days call for a final summer soup but my home-grown cherry tomatoes are far too precious (and few and far between) to blitz into soup so this marvellous recipe is the perfect answer.

Fresh, summery, full of vitamin C, and a delightful vehicle for lashings of health boosting and delicious Extra Virgin Olive Oil. As an added bonus it entirely dispenses with the need for all the boiling water faff of skinning fresh tomatoes too.

This delicious Gazpacho, perfected by the impressive culinary talents of a talented family friend, has come to my rescue in my battle against many a greenish, or even mud-brown Gazpacho recipe. Delightfully quick to make and using very simple ingredients it satisfies my family's insatiable enthusiasm for SOUP and yet dispels any gloomy hint of a Scots root vegetable broth in the summer months.

Ingredients:

• ½ shallot (chopped roughly)
• ½ cucumber (also chopped roughly)
• 1 Red pepper (roughly chopped)
• 1 pinch of ground cumin
• 800g tin of tomatoes
• Approx 60ml of wine vinegar
• Approx 140ml of either Villa Montalbano Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Kabbadates Extra Virgin Olive Oil or Monterosa Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

Place the ingredients in a blender and whizz until smooth. Adjust your seasoning and oil and vinegar if needed to taste. Serve cold topped with croutons of wholemeal or sourdough bread fried in some of our Extra Virgin Olive Oil.