SOUPSONG HAS GONE HARDCOPY!
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Release date: 12/28/2004.

You'll find this recipe in it, From AN EXALTATION OF SOUPS,
copyright © 2004
by Patricia Solley,
Published by Three Rivers Press.

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I was so pleased to get this recipe and also one for Ajoblanco from José Luis Vivas, a native of Seville currently living in Brussels and working as a conference interpreter. Thanks to his expertise, I have been able to correct a number of site entries regarding gazpacho--and have also gained insight into Alice B. Toklas' understanding of soups and Seville. Many thanks to this gifted polyglot, hot air balloon crewman, and connoisseur. The following recipe his own personal version, is both authentic and wonderful. I include most of his commentary verbatim.

• 2 kilograms (4½ pounds) ripe fresh tomatoes
• 1 kilogram (2+ pounds) cucumber
• 3-4 large green peppers
• 1 red pepper (optional-strengthens colour)
• 3-4 cloves garlic
• 3 slices crusty white bread
• water to soak the bread
• 200 cc (1 cup) olive oil
• 100 cc (½ cup) sherry vinegar
• 3 tsp. coarse ground salt

Garnish: When served "formally", gazpacho is presented with an array of garnish consisting of tomato, onion, cucumber, green pepper, hard-boiled egg, and Spanish dry ham, all diced. Every item is put in a separate bowl so you can choose what garnish and how much you want. When serving you can drop a few leaves of spearmint on each dish.

Soak the bread in water. Peel the cucumbers and remove the seeds from the peppers. Chop and blend all the vegetables, garlic last of all. Add the soaked bread, oil, vinegar and salt and blend again. Serve very cold. If you don't have the time to put it to cool, just add some ice cubes when serving. If you want a smoother texture you can peel the tomatoes and remove the seeds from them and the cucumbers.

Mr. Vivas says, "You can see the quantities are very large. This is because we usually make a large batch of this "base cream" and thin it with water to taste, as you can either eat it from a dish like a pureed salad or, as we very often we like to do in our hot summers, drink it in a glass. For smaller batches, just keep the proportions."