Paula Wolfert

Gazpacho with Melon

Preparation info

  • Difficulty

    Medium

  • Serves

    10 to 12

Appears in

top 1000The Slow Mediterranean Kitchen: Recipes for the Passionate Cook

The Slow Mediterranean Kitchen

By Paula Wolfert

Published 2003

  • About

Here’s a delicious gazpacho inspired by a recipe given to me by Navarre-born, Madrid-based chef Carlos Oyarbide. Carlos serves his version with a green pepper sorbet, tiny shellfish, and a compote of honeyed raisins and vinegar to make his point that he has found his ultimate “inner gazpacho.”

In my version, I replace some of the water with melon to endow the soup with a fruity dimension, then I top it off with a slick of green pepper. That’s my inner gazpacho!

This soup will keep for days in the refrigerator.

Ingredients

  • 8 garlic cloves
  • Coarse salt
  • 3½ pounds red ripe tomatoes, halved, seeded, and grated (about 1 quart)
  • 1 small green bell pepper, diced
  • ½ red (bell) pepper, diced
  • 1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded, and cut into chunks
  • 2 bunches of scallion(s), trimmed and sliced (about 2 cups)
  • 1 small cantaloupe, halved, seeded, and cut up
  • ⅔ cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 3 cups cubed stale crustless bread
  • ½ teaspoon aged sherry wine vinegar, or more to taste
  • Pinch of sugar
  • Fine salt
  • Green Pepper Oil

Method

  1. Peel the garlic and crush it with 2 teaspoons salt. Place in a large bowl and add the tomatoes, green and red bell peppers, cucumber, scallions, melon, olive oil, and bread. Stir, cover, and allow to macerate in the refrigerator at least 6 hours, overnight if possible.
  2. Puree the mixture in batches in a blender or food processor, adding a total of 5 cups cold water. Strain through a fine sieve into a bowl. Stir in the vinegar and sugar. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, then add salt to taste, if necessary.
  3. Ladle the soup into small bowls or cups for sipping. Drizzle the green pepper oil on top.

The Slow Mediterranean Kitchen by Paula Wolfert. Copyright © 2003 by Paula Wolfert. Photographs copyright © by Christopher Hirsheimer. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.