Friday, January 23, 2009

Chicken Gazpacho

“Cold soup is a very tricky thing and it is the rare hostess who can carry it off. More often than not the dinner guest is left with the impression that had he only come a little earlier he could have gotten it while it was still hot.” -Fran Lebowitz, journalist



I got acquainted with this refreshing soup for the first time when I was working with HSBC. A Latin American colleague of mine introduced me to this soup. Now at my mum's place, a soup means it has to be piping hot...or its not a soup, so I never really tried making this.

However my hub has trotted the globe quite a bit and I guess is worldly-wise (grin) and is far more adventourous than I am ...even in terms of the food he eats.(chuckle!)
I have made several versions of this gazpacho, as I don't like repeating my dishes ...unless absolutely necessary...lol.
So without much a do I made this soup today morning for breakfast...(trying to keep it slim and healthy....as long as I can) !



This classic chilled tomato soup is chock full of garden-fresh vegetables, cholesterol free, and made with very little added oil. My twist to this classic is only in adding shredded poached chicken to the otherwise garden-full bowl !


Chicken Gazpacho
Ingredients-
1/4 cup diced red-peppers
1/4 cup diced yellow pepper
1/4 cup diced carrots,slightly blanched
1/4 cup or less chopped green beans,blanched
2-3 small green chillies (adjust according to taste)
2 tbsp vinegar
1 celery stalk, chopped finely
1 stalk of spring onion, chopped
2-3 basil leaves,minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp cumin powder
1/2 cup cooked fusilli (optional)
a dash of olive oil
4-5 cups of vegetable broth/chicken broth
1 large ripe tomato,boiled and pureed
1/4 cup tomato juice
salt & pepper to taste
1/4 cup shredded poached chicken (optional)


Method-

In a saucepan boil 2 cups of water and add the diced carrots and green beans, for a minute. Immediately drain them and place under cold tap water.


In a blender add the garlic, chillies,tomato puree, tomato juice,vinegar, celery, half of the red & green peppers ,half of the carrots and puree them together with the broth. ( I like my gazpacho not so thick/creamy so I added more broth.)

In a heated deep bottomed pan, add the olive oil with the chopped spring onions, basil leaves, cumin powder, remaining red & yellow peppers, blanched green beans and remaining carrots. Stir.

Finally add the puree with the broth. Season with salt and pepper. Add the shredded chicken and fusilli. Remove from heat and let cool/chill.

Serve warm/chilled (traditionally its served chilled) with croutons or cheese bruschetta.





During its long, arid summers, Andalucía cools itself down with chilled gazpacho, a hearty and pungent soup that has gained fame throughout the world for its amazing thirst-quenching quality.

Often described as a liquid salad, gazpacho descends from ancient Roman concoction based on a combination of stale bread, garlic, olive oil, salt and vinegar. As Romans labored to build roads and aqueducts across Spain in the scorching heat, this soup replenished them with the necessary salt and vitamins lost through physical exertion.

Later, shepherds and farmers added vegetables to make it more hearty and satisfying. Because tomatoes and bell peppers were not indigenous to Spain, these ingredients were not added to the soup until after Spain's discovery of the New World. Since that time, gazpacho has remained relatively unchanged - an unpretentious soup designed to quench the thirst evoked by the unrelenting Spanish sun.








Note: This soup can be made vegetarian/vegan by skipping the chicken and/or adding tofu/cottage cheese cubes instead.



I share this with HotM(Heart of the Matter) which is dedicated to healthy cooking and eating.

26 comments:

  1. I have had the tomato one but never the chicken one.
    They look yumm. I would prefer warm as it is cold here.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love Gazpacho and do make it with fresh veggies from my garden in Summer. Chicken addition is indeed new and sounds delicious for light lunch. Good one! :))

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh, here is mysimple Gazpacho, take a peek! :))

    http://aromahope.blogspot.com/2007/07/gazpacho.html

    ReplyDelete
  4. Looks good. i am used to warm soup if not piping hot. I guess one needs to get used to having cold ones:-) like the watermelon or cucumber gapachos tho...

    I was wondering how the fat from the chicken does not solidify when chilled?

    ReplyDelete
  5. The soup looks colourful & delicious!A warm one would be good for a cold weather! thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh that does look so good right now! Wonderful!

    ReplyDelete
  7. that fran's quite a character, isn't she?! your gazpacho is quite unique, and i know i'd love it. bravo. :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. I posted with tomato classic one in my blog last summer. The color is so inviting and delicious.
    About watermark pictu: Check out my post:http://spice-club.blogspot.com/2008/11/watermark-your-image-and-copyright-your.html

    ReplyDelete
  9. I've never had a chicken gazpacho - it sounds delicious!

    ReplyDelete
  10. What a beautiful and tasty soup. It looks so comforting and perfect for the cold day today.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Soup looks yummy, Much informative.. First time here.love ur blog. U have a wonderful collection.

    ReplyDelete
  12. hot or cold...soups are the healthiest that can get with taste..that is!

    as for chicken in a cold soup...its important to use poached chicken and not too much of it...and instead of chilled soup, serve this at room temp.

    ReplyDelete
  13. looks so good,wonderfu,l like soup so much

    ReplyDelete
  14. Subscribe to feedburner so u can see who is subscribed and track everything...

    ReplyDelete
  15. I see that you have already watermarked your pics... I hope I was not too late to get back to you... :(

    ReplyDelete
  16. Looks really healthy and delicious, but I'm not a cold soup person.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I make this when I want to clear the veggies from my ref...then, I throw in whatever i can lay my hands on. Nice pic the first one

    ReplyDelete
  18. mmmm..looks yum for the cold season..:)

    ReplyDelete
  19. Gazpacho soup is my fav too..but this recipe is new to me ..looks real yum..love to experiment..

    ReplyDelete
  20. Hey there! Sorry I haven't been around for a few days. Was playing this theme blog project and had to post every day and check out the other participants' blogs, so got a bit behind.

    This is the most unique gazpacho recipe I've seen! Since it's winter here, I won't try it yet, but will save it for the summer months when a cold soup would be nice. :)

    ReplyDelete
  21. Lovely! Thanks for this fine entry!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Looks tasty! This with cheese bruchetta would be perfect.

    ReplyDelete

Thank You for taking out the time to put your thoughts into words. It is appreciated. Hope I am able to keep you involved, intrigued and happy with this blog. Your views are welcome.