Gazpacho Soup in a Glass   Serves 3-4

Our family has enjoyed this flavourful, chilled gazpacho soup recipe for 3 decades. I originally adapted it from a recipe that came in a recipe booklet with a blender we received as a wedding present. Now that’s 4 decades ago!!

It wasn’t until we were holidaying in the south of France that I ever even thought of serving it in a martini glass with a straw. It makes it so much more exotic.

I this picture below from my book ‘A Delicious Bunch, growing and cooking with edible flowers’, its shown in a stemless wine glass.

It’s simply wonderful on a hot, humid summer day, and best of all, no oven or hotplates needed! No need to heat up the kitchen or get hot and sweaty making lunch. It’s ready in just a few minutes.

Ingredients:

1 cup tomato juice

2 ripe, soft tomatoes, quartered

1 small Lebanese cucumber

½ small green capsicum

1 spring onion

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon cider or white vinegar

2 teaspoons sweet chilli sauce

1 clove garlic

8 ice cubes

 

To serve, herbed sour cream

300 ml whipped sour cream or crème fraiche

Snipped chives, basil, parsley or celery leaf and mint folded through the sour cream.

Extra basil, chive and parsley to serve in the glass

 

You will probably need to make the soup in two batches, so put half of all the soup ingredients into the blender at one time. Secure the lid and whiz until it’s smooth. Share between glasses.  Blend the second portion and serve with the sour cream and herbs.

 

Did you know?

Cucumber ‘Spacemaster’ is a compact Lebanese style cucumber that doesn’t need staking. You can even grow it in a large pot.

Basil grows more leaves if you trim off the flowers and it has less grasshopper attack when grown in part shade.