Gazpacho has the reputation of being an awkward dish. It's not always well received - after all, it's cold soup. The first time I tried it, I was in Paris and decided, "I'm never coming back to this place! They can't even heat up soup properly."Thankfully I got over my Parisian aversion and I learned to actually like gazpacho!
I started with tomatoes, red onions, bell peppers, chili pepper and basil - all harvested from the garden. First, peel, half and remove the seeds from a medium cucumber. Then coarsely dice the cucumber, tomato, onions and pepper. Be sure to very finely mince the chili pepper - any remove the seeds unless you're really a fan of spice. Pile it all in a food processor with the basil, a bit of salt, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Blitz it up until it's soupy, but not a fine puree. There should be a bit of texture.
I find it's best to serve chilled, but not ice cold.
