Karl’s White Gazpacho

Adapted from a Food and Wine recipe

Daughter Miriam asked for Spanish tri-tip for her birthday dinner. Looking for side dishes to go with the beef, gazpacho would be an obvious choice, but Miriam has been “off” garlic and onions lately—and gazpacho is really just salsa (tomatoes, onions, chilies, cilantro, and garlic) that has been blended into a cold soup. Searching the internet, I found a recipe for “white gazpacho“—made with apples, grapes, almonds and cucumber. A little tinkering and it would meet Miriam’s dietary needs.

Karl’s White Gazpacho

Karl’s White Gazpacho

Ingredients

1+ cup toasted sliced almonds, separate uses
1 cup stale, white country bread

1 cup peeled, seeded and diced cucumber
1 Granny Smith apple—peeled, seeded and chopped
1½ cups seedless green grapes
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
¼ cup olive oil
1 cup buttermilk
¼ tsp. black pepper, cracked
Pinch Kosher salt

Mint sprigs, for garnish

Directions

1. Place most of the almonds and the bread into a blender and pulverize them into a powder.

Tip: The bread prevents the almonds from turning into almond butter.

Note: Reserve some of the nicer slices of almond for garnish.

2. Remove the dry ingredients to a bowl.

Tip: You do not need to clean the blender at this point.

3. Put the rest of the ingredients—except the mint—into the blender and process them into a slurry, about one minute.

4. Return the almonds and bread to the blender and process for 1-2 minutes more.

5. Strain the gazpacho through a sieve into a bowl and cover it with plastic wrap.

Tip: The recipe I was working from called for sieving the soup, but I found nothing left in the sieve when I was finished.

Note: Processing the soup will leave it slightly warm.

6. Refrigerate the soup for at least half an hour to chill the soup.

7. Serve the gazpacho in small bowls garnished with the mint sprigs and a few sliced almonds.