When I first tried this at a friend's house in Fort Worth years ago, I was hooked. We drank little servings out of shot glasses with a half white grape on top, which made for a beautiful presentation. It continually makes my list of top-10 foods, along with Tom Kha Gai soup and Scharffen Berger chocolate cake. I never would have guessed this creamy, rich soup doesn't have any cream in it.
Ingredients:
- ½ standard loaf of French or Italian bread
- 3 cups cold water
- 3 tablespoons blanched almonds
- 2-3 cloves of fresh garlic
- ¾ pound seedless green grapes
- 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
- ½ cup olive oil
- Salt and cayenne pepper, to taste
Directions:
- Cut the bread into slices and toast to a medium brown. Remove the crusts, then set the bread aside to soften in 1 cup of the cold water.
- Lightly toast the almonds in a toaster oven or small skillet over medium-low heat until golden.
- Transfer the almonds to a food processor, add the garlic, and pulse until the almonds are finely ground. Squeeze the bread as dry as possible, then add it and about one-third of the grapes to the almonds. Process until the mixture is smooth.
- Gradually add in the vinegar and olive oil.
- Transfer to a large bowl and beat in the remaining two cups of cold water.
- Strain the gazpacho through a fine sieve, forcing as much of the bread mixture through as possible. (sometimes I skip this step if I'm feeling lazy)
- Season the gazpacho with salt and a pinch of cayenne and refrigerate until the soup is well chilled, at least one hour.
- Cut the remaining grapes in halves or quarters. Serve the gazpacho in chilled bowls topped with the grapes and drizzle with olive oil.
