Cherry gazpacho

It seems that the fair weather is here to stay. This pleasant warmth announces the return of one of my favorite fruits (and I don't have many): cherries. On the other hand, at home salmorejos and gazpachos are essential items when the weather gets too hot. There is nothing better than sipping one of these refreshing soups on the terrace, watching the blackbirds and... almost touching nirvana with my fingertips. And you'll be wondering by now, what do cold soups, heat and cherries have in common? Mmm, that in order to add a colorful note to our grey and monotonous lives, and use the first cherries that I found on the market, I decided to try this daring variation of gazpacho, with cherries of course, from the famous Basque chef Martin Berasategui.


Here's the recipe:



Cherry gazpacho by Martín Berasategui

• 1kg ripe tomatos
• 220g sweet cherries (the original recipe calls for 200g, I wanted more...)
• 5g green pepper
• 5g onion
• 1 clove garlic
• 55g bread crumb
• 1 tbsp cider vinegar (Sherry vinegar in the original recipe, but it's a bit too strong for me)
• 3 tbsp virgin olive oil
• Salt to taste

1. Pit the cherries, cut all the ingredients in chunks, place in a large bowl and leave overnight, except the vinegar and salt.
2. The next day, process everything together in a food processor (Thermomix in my case, of course), and put it through a fine sieve if you don't like it chunky. Refrigerate for a couple of hours at least, as it's better served well cooled.

The cherries tame and sweeten the somewhat fiery flavor of traditional gazpacho... and give it such a beautiful color... that I'd love to put it in a frame... none of those so very contemporary artists has invented liquid art? So much for this art, damn it.



I take this opportunity to share some images from my garden. Everything's bloomed all at once, hardly noticed... and this year we had almost forgotten how flowers looked like! Have a happy warm weather, everyone.