In today’s soup, the sweet nectarines meet up with ripe homegrown tomatoes. It may seem a bit strange at first – especially with the onion in the mix, but I promise – it is so so so delicious! As there is no real cooking involved, all the ingredients must be at their best ripeness.
During the wintertime in Estonia, where I live, this kind of soup would be impossible to enjoy as the store-bought winter tomatoes taste like plastic. So at the moment, I am enjoying as much fresh produce as possible.
This is also a great recipe for readers in the Southern hemisphere, as Spring is beginning to bloom.
This recipe here is one of those where it is not important to follow the ingredients' exact amounts. I give you a recipe, but feel free to play around – if you only have 5 tomatoes, go with 5. If you have 3 nectarines waiting to be used up – use them here. The same with seasoning – just make sure to taste the soup after the first seasoning and decide if you may like a little more vinegar or little more salt. With seasoning, I recommend adding a little at the time as it is easy to add in more, but once you add too much, it is not possible to remove the extra seasoning.
Tomato and Nectarine Gazpacho
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Serves: 2 people
Ingredients:
2 ripe nectarines
6 ripe tomatoes
1 slice of day-old bread (I used home-baked sourdough, but use whatever you happen to have)
½ small onion
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper, to taste
Cubed cucumber, nectarines, onion, and cilantro, to serve
Chop the nectarines, tomatoes, bread, and onion roughly, and then blend until silky smooth.
Season with oil, vinegar, salt-pepper. Mix, taste, and season again if necessary.
If you have a little time, then chill the soup for a few hours. If you are short of time and hungry right this minute, add a few ice cubes during the blending.
Serve sprinkled with cubed cucumber, nectarine, onions, and cilantro.
By Kadri Raig
Kadri is a food blogger and yoga teacher from Estonia. She does love to spend time in the kitchen, but most of her recipes are simple and don’t take more than 20 minutes of active cooking time. She thinks that everybody can find time to cook healthy food at home, it is just a question of planning. "I work in an office full time, teach yoga 7-8 hours a week and write a blog. So if I manage to cook most of my meals, then so do you!" Connect with Kadri and enjoy many more of her delicious healthy recipes on her website here: www.kahvliga.ee.