Ouch! Same here with my garden. Tomatoes are ok, but I usually don’t grow big heirloom varieties. My cukes and my peppers though look like what they should look like at end of May/early June rather than end of July.
I haven’t had a chance to even venture to a decent farmers market, and went with Trader Joe’s heirloom tomatoes, and some organic Roma tomatoes. It was ok, and not quite as flavorful as I’d like. On top of that, my sherry vinegar decided to disintegrate its cork stopper, so I had a heck of a time digging out the remaining cork to add it to the gazpacho. I did manage to strain out any floating cork pieces, but now I need a new bottle of sherry vinegar.
What’s the consensus here for the best sherry vinegar for gazpacho? Open to trying new brands.
Since there’s already half a cup of olive oil in it I hesitate to add more to emulsify it. It looks nothing like the video, not to mention any of your lovely pics
4-5 of your Thai peppers, at least 3 more garlic cloves, an ounce of almonds (soaked in hot water and blended with just enough of the soaking water to get a tahini consistency), and more sherry vinegar (to whatever your taste is). Then re-blend until emulsified. The almonds should help keep it from separating again (and add some additional flavor).
Interesting that it looks so much more like the NYT picture in the bottle versus the blender. I was able to whisk i back into shapet, and might just have to do it again at the potluck, before serving.
@Amandarama unfortunately, the almond trick didn’t work.
When I add up the time it took me to make this, I could’ve just as well stuck to my OG plan of making caponata .
Sorry it didn’t work! Another thought for serving is to bring some diced tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, and toasted bread croutons for people to garnish with. Since it didn’t blend up the way the recipe said it would, you could just take it back in a chunky direction.
Gazpacho, like many blended soups, contains both oil and water-based components (vegetables, vinegar, olive oil). These don’t naturally mix and will separate over time, especially when chilled.
Emulsification:
Adding bread to the gazpacho helps create a more stable emulsion, but it’s still common for it to separate.
Re-emulsification:
To fix the separation, simply stir or shake the gazpacho vigorously before serving. If it still seems separated, a quick blend with an immersion blender or in a regular blender will help reincorporate the ingredients according to The Washington Post.
Storage:
Gazpacho can be stored in the refrigerator for a few days, and it’s often recommended to make it ahead of time to allow the flavors to meld. If it separates, don’t worry, just give it a good stir before serving.
In the interest of not perpetuating the use of “AI”, here’s a Jose Andres gazpacho recipe for comparison with the NYT one. It’s pretty similar, but he goes the garnish route and does recommend reblending before serving.
The color might have to do with the tomatoes, both in their color and water content. I wonder if liberally salting and draining them for an hour would help…The cucumber, too, now that I think about it…
A final thought - failed gazpacho can be turned into Bloody Mary/Maria/Caesar/Red Snapper base or a Michelada base via the addition of Worcestershire. You could even freeze it into ice cubes to do a frozen one.
Of note is that neither use bread (“Andalusian style”) which is my preference, but apparently creates a less stable emulsion.
Perhaps NYT uses a relative lot of olive oil (2 pounds tomato to 1/2 cup olive oil) , which the recipe says effects color. This version of Jose’s doesn’t include a measurement for the olive oil, or am I missing it?
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