What's Spanish for Soup?

 The idea of cold soup really freaks me out. Something just seems...wrong...about it. Yet I'm inexplicably drawn to it. I have recipes torn out for cold watermelon soup and cucumber soup, and even a chilled dessert berry soup. I suppose when you really think about it, there isn't a good reason that soup is supposed to be warm...except that it's supposed to be warm, dang it!  That's just the way it is!

When I get over these bizarre battles waged between warring factions inside my head, I realize that, freaky though it may be (and I blame vichyssoise) they're actually pretty good.  Especially during the summer, when similarly inexplicable soup cravings come knocking, and I'm forced to answer them.

I visited Spain in high school, and there I had a bowl of simple gazpacho that was served with a cutting board of different chopped up veggies, cheese, croutons, and the like. It was perhaps the perfect meal--a base of sweet, tangy, richly orange, smoothly blended tomato soup to which you could add any number of things, making eat bite more perfect than the last.  Since then, my nostalgia for that trip, and plenty of bad versions of gazpacho, have convinced me that it's hard to find a good one state-side.  More often than not I get a bowl of what seems to be salsa, or chunky V8, or just any other gross image you can think of. (Although Emilios, if my memory serves me at all, does a great little bowl.)

But a recipe from a Martha Stewart I ripped out last summer looked, at least, a lot like what I remembered.  It was a fairly straightforward recipe, but of course I can't make it that simple.  Instead of crustless, day-old bread, I just used a loaf I bought that day, and maybe took the crusts off half, cause I'm lazy.  I didn't make the croutons, either, cause I like to dip hunks of bread into soup, warm or cold. Used regular cuke, not english, and didn't have sherry vinegar so I used rice vinegar instead (wine might have been a better substitution).  And I used like, less than 1/2 of the oil it called for.  And it's still delicious! Since I don't have a blender, just a cuisinart, it could have been smoother, but after a few bites I just didn't care.

Had a bowl for lunch today with some of the cut-off crusts, a baby bell cheese, and two more delicious plums.

Both the original recipe and my small changes are after the jump.

Recipe on MarthaStewart.com

GAZPACHO (Very slightly adapted from above)
2 cups cubed day-old bread
3 garlic cloves
 Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
 2 pounds ripe tomatoes, preferably beefsteak, seeded
1 four-inch piece cucumber, peeled and seeded
 1 one-inch-thick slice green bell pepper
 2 teaspoons red-wine vinegar
 1 teaspoon sherry vinegar
 3 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
 1 cup cold water, plus more for soaking

1. Cover bread with cold water, and let soak for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, cover garlic with water in a small saucepan, and bring to a boil. Cook for 3 minutes; drain.

2. Transfer garlic to a blender. Squeeze excess liquid from bread, and transfer bread to blender. Add 2 teaspoons salt, the tomatoes, cucumber, bell pepper, and vinegars. Puree until smooth. With machine running, pour in oil in a slow, steady stream, blending until emulsified. Blend in cold water. Season with salt and pepper. Refrigerate gazpacho until chilled, at least 3 hours.