Gazpacho is a summer soup and a philosophy. In Seville, where the summer temperature regularly exceeds 40°C, it’s consumed cold, by the glass, sometimes for breakfast. The version you want is made entirely from ripe tomatoes — no cooking, no cream, no stock. Just vegetables, bread, olive oil, and vinegar, blended until silky and chilled until the bowl sweats.

The key is the tomato. In Spain in August, the tomatoes are so ripe they collapse at a touch. In winter, this recipe is not worth making. Wait for summer.

Ingredients (serves 4–6)

• 1kg very ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped
• 1 small cucumber (200g), peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 small green pepper, seeds removed, roughly chopped
• 2 cloves garlic
• 80g stale white bread (crusts removed), soaked in cold water for 10 minutes
• 100ml extra-virgin olive oil (Spanish, ideally Andalusian)
• 2 tbsp sherry vinegar (not white wine vinegar — sherry vinegar)
• 1 tsp fine salt, plus more to taste
• Cold water to adjust consistency

For garnish (optional but correct)

• Finely diced tomato, cucumber, and green pepper
• Hard-boiled egg, chopped
• A drizzle of olive oil
• Small croutons fried in olive oil

Method

1. Blend the vegetables. Combine tomatoes, cucumber, pepper, and garlic in a blender. Squeeze the excess water from the soaked bread and add it. Blend at high speed for 2 minutes until completely smooth.

2. Add oil and vinegar. With the blender running, pour in the olive oil in a thin stream, as if making a vinaigrette. Add the sherry vinegar and salt. Blend for another minute.

3. Pass and chill. Pass the mixture through a fine sieve, pressing hard to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard the solids. Taste: it should be bright, slightly acidic, deeply savoury. Adjust salt and vinegar. Add a little cold water if the consistency is too thick — it should pour easily.

4. Chill thoroughly. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, ideally overnight. Gazpacho improves dramatically with time.

5. Serve cold. Pour into chilled bowls. Add the garnishes, finish with a drizzle of olive oil.

Notes

On the bread: The bread gives body and helps emulsify the olive oil. Without it, the soup separates. A good sourdough or a ciabatta works well.

On the vinegar: Sherry vinegar (vinagre de Jerez) is not interchangeable with other vinegars here. It has a rounded, woody depth that generic white wine vinegar doesn’t have. It’s in most supermarkets.

On drinking it: In Seville, gazpacho is often served in a glass, not a bowl. Try it. It makes more sense than you’d expect.