Roasted Garlic Gazpacho

Gazpacho is a cold Spanish-style soup made from tomatoes, olive oil, wine vinegar and other vegetables. It’s typically loaded with raw onions and garlic, so every time I see it on a restaurant menu, I have an inner dialogue weighing how much I love it against how much I’ll regret eating it later. I wanted to come up with a recipe that was full of flavor but without sharp and lingering aftereffects, so I replaced the traditional raw onions and garlic with lots of mellow, sweet roasted garlic. It came out great — vibrant and full of robust tomato flavor — and you can eat it til your heart’s content because it’s super healthy and goes down smooth.

Gazpacho is also incredibly easy to make. Aside from the roasted garlic in this recipe, everything is raw. You simply blitz all the vegetables in a food processor, and then stir in the liquid ingredients and seasoning.

Begin by roasting the garlic cloves over medium heat in a small dry pan. When the skins are browned and the cloves are soft, they’re done.

In the meantime, chop the vegetables into large chunks.

Peel the roasted garlic and scrape off any char.

Add the peeled cloves to the bowl of a food processor and blitz to purée, then add the chopped tomatoes and pulse until coarsely chopped. Be careful not to overmix; you want the soup to be slightly chunky.

Transfer the tomato mixture to a bowl, then add the chopped bell peppers and cucumbers to the food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped.

Add the vegetables to the bowl with the tomatoes, then pour in the tomato juice, olive oil, red wine vinegar and seasoning.

That’s all there is to it. Cover the soup and refrigerate until ready to serve — the longer it sits, the better it tastes. I love it simple and ungarnished, but you can also top it with croutons, sliced avocado or chopped hard boiled eggs.