Nick's Gazpacho

My day of gazpacho reckoning is at hand – while traveling throughout Spain as a teenager, I could barely touch the stuff . . . Often served with hard-boiled eggs (ugh), anchovies (double ugh) and more fresh tomatoes (I used to loathe fresh tomatoes – I was a crazy, adamant fool), I just could not enjoy the country’s specialty. Now, I am blessed to have my older brother, Nick make gazpacho for me – and he turned me on to the perfect accompaniments to this savory, smoothie-like concoction: a drizzle of olive oil and a few chopped green peppers. And the whole thing is perfect on a hot day – refreshing, light, savory, and elegant even!



Nick knows how to do gazpacho right because he lived in Spain for a year, is a fabulous cook with many secrets up his sleeve, plays a wicked game of basketball (they call him “White Chocolate” in pick-up games), is gloriously tall and handsome, rocks the porch-cum-eating locale, enlightens me with new music, the list goes on . . . Who else greets me with an “O-HALO” every time we call each other and serves me a perfect cold tomato soup on a hot day, upon entering his NE Portland abode? There’s obviously a lot to say about the guy, but I’ll just stick to his loco gazpacho for the rest of this –


I am pretty sure Nick (sr. Neeck, as I call him) picked up this gem of a recipe from Cipri, his glamorous middle-aged housemate/landlord whom he lived with in Granada – she always sounded super hip and full of sass, and goodness she taught my brother how to do the cold soup right!

Sr. Neeck is also prone to writing haikus about certain foods, we ARE related, both freaks, I assure you. Here is his about gazpacho—

Matching red lipstick
Cooler than fresh gazpacho
Cipri and Cissy

And with that, here is the recipe --

El Gazpacho de Cipri (by Nick)

5 over ripe tomatoes, sliced into chunks
1 cucumber, skinned and sliced into chunks
1 clove of garlic, chopped
1/2 cup of olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tsp. Salt

Throw all the ingredients into a large, deep pot. Using a hand
blender, blend the ingredients together until it reaches a uniform,
soupy consistency. Taste it to make sure it's good. If it lacks
punch, add a little more vinegar and/or garlic. If it's not smooth
enough, add some olive oil. And if it isn't salty enough, well, you
know… Put it in the fridge for an hour or two.

Serve with bread, a drizzle of olive oil, and top with finely diced green peppers, thinly sliced jamon serrano, and/or crumbled hard boiled egg* --you all know how I feel about the hard boiled eggs on top—but go for it, if that’s your thing.

Serves 4.



After we dined -- we rode bikes up the street to the cutest little market -- Cherry Sprout Produce. They had all kinds of fresh produce, local spices and lots of neighborly bbq talk.