Gazpacho’s a light, cool, refreshing soup from Spain.  The Spanish call gazpacho, “Salad.” This uncooked vegetable soup is usually made from a pureed blend of fresh tomatoes, sweet peppers, onions, cucumbers, garlic, olive oil, vinegar and bread crumbs or soaked crumbled bread.  There are so many ways to make it.  It’s said that if you had thirty Spanish cooks in the kitchen, there would be thirty different versions of gazpacho!  I’m using a quick step of sautéing the garlic first in olive oil before adding to the blender of veggies.  This really enhances the fresh garlic flavor. In addition, I’m serving it with a medley of chopped vegetables for garnish.  You might be wondering why this gazpacho’s a blush color instead of a vivid red.  It’s due to using yellow sweet peppers, which soften the color.  With just 91 calories a cup, 3 grams of fat and 3 Weight Watchers POINTS PLUS, this first course soup is a delicious and simple way to get all your veggies in one fell swoop!

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Chill Time: at least 1 hour

Ingredients for Gazpacho:

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

3 large garlic cloves, minced

6 large ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped

1 yellow bell pepper, cored, seeded and chopped

1 yellow onion, peeled and chopped

1 large cucumber, peeled and chopped

¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

1 slice wheat sourdough, regular sourdough or French bread, crusts removed, soaked in water and squeezed dry

½ teaspoon salt, or to taste

½ teaspoon fresh ground pepper or to taste

Several drops of Tabasco to taste

Ingredients for Toppings:

1½ cups cherry or grape tomatoes, quartered

½ cup yellow bell pepper, chopped

½ cup cucumber, peeled and chopped

½ cup scallions or onions chopped

Instructions

1. In a small nonstick pan, heat olive oil.  Add minced garlic and sauté about 1 minute until slightly brown.

2. In a large bowl, mix together tomatoes, yellow peppers, onions, cucumbers, vinegar, bread, sautéed garlic and oil.

3. In batches, puree mixture in the blender until very smooth.  Pour into a large bowl.

4. Season with salt, pepper and Tabasco to taste.

5. Place in refrigerator and chill for at least 1 hour or overnight.

6. Chop topping vegetables and store in refrigerator until ready to serve.

7. To serve-ladle each serving into a small bowl.  Top each with the variety of chopped vegetables. Or, bring all the veggies to the table, and let everybody top their own.

Makes 6 servings (1 cup each)

Food Facts
Gazpacho originated in the southern region of Andalusia, Spain.

Dating back to 1824, in an old cookbook called The Virginia Housewife; Mary Randolph included a recipe for gazpacho. Her recipe was probably the first gazpacho recipe published in America.

Healthy Benefits
Yellow peppers are an excellent source of vitamin C and contain a fair amount of vitamin A and calcium.

Cucumbers are over 90% water.  They contain a significant amount of vitamin C and potassium.

Tomatoes are extremely rich in antioxidants especially Lycopene as well as vitamins A, C, and K.

Scallions contain a significant amount of vitamin C and some B6.

Weight Watchers (old points) 1
Weight Watchers POINTS PLUS 3