Gazpacho (cold spanish soup)

It's summer again so time for Gazpacho! It is so good, so healthy and so easy to do! Gazpacho is a typical cold spanish soup, it is served in the hot summer months. I don't know anyone that does not like it!

Ingredients and steps:

- 2 slice white bread, shredded
- 3 or 4 tomatoes, roughly chopped
- 1 red pepper, roughly chopped
- 1 garlic clove (or more if you like garlic!)
- 1/2 cucumber, roughly chopped
- 1/2 a green pepper (optional), roughly chopped
- about 4 to 5 tbsp good olive oil
- about 1 tbsp vinegar
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 cups of water

Put the bread, all the vegetables and the olive oil in a blender and blend. Strain the mixture into a pitcher to get rid of the skin of the tomatoes and paprika and get a smooth mixture. Add the water, the vinegar, salt and pepper. And that's it!

If you want to eat it immediately, add some ice cubes in the blender so that the gazpacho is nice fresh. But ideally leave it for a few hours in the refrigerator and serve nice cold!

Toppings:

- some finely chopped green pepper
- some finely chopped red pepper
- some finely chopped red onion

Albondigas (Spanish meatballs)

This recipe is from my mother and my Spanish grandmother, it is a typical Spanish dish. My mother used to cook it often when I was young and still does when we gather with all the family in their house in Spain because everybody likes it (except my sister who is a vegetarian then!). Real comfort food!

Ingredients and steps:

For the meatballs:
- 300 gr minced meat (I use 100% ground beef)
- 2 white bread slices
- 1 cup of milk
- 2 tbsp parsley
- 1 egg
- 1 or 2 tbsp pine nuts
- salt/ pepper
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- flour
- 4 tbsp oil

Cut the bread in peaces and let it soak in the milk for a few minutes, till completely soft.
In a large bowl place the minced meat, add the soaked bread, the garlic, the parsley, the egg, the pinenuts and salt and pepper to taste.

Form the meat balls with your hands and roll them in the flour.

Fry the meat balls in a large frying pan for about 10 minutes at medium high heat. When they are nice brown, place them in a large pan.

 

For the sauce:
- 1 or 2 carrots, sliced
- 1/2 a green paprika, finely chopped
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp red paprika powder (sweet)
- some flour
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 to 3 cups vegetable broth (enough to cover the meatballs in the pan)

In the frying pan where you fried the meatballs, saute now the onions and the green paprika for about 5 minutes.

Add the onions and green paprika to the pan with the meat balls. Add the red paprika powder, the bay leaves, the carrots and the broth and let it cook at medium-low heat for 30 minutes. If you want to thicken the sauce, add a tbsp of flour that you have previously mixed with water to make a thin paste.

 

 

 

And that's it! Serve with tagliatelle or with rice.