Spain II and Gazpacho

This is my second post from my vacation in Spain. I hope you liked the first one - HERE. Unfortunately, I won't be able to prepare any more posts before we leave, but that doesn't mean there won't be any recipes inspired by this trip. Oh, there will be, because I've eaten so many delicious things here and I have tons of ideas, and I've also bought the right cookbooks and dishes to bring those ideas to life.

Spain shopping

The last few days were full of events. We visited a local winery for tapas and vino, where we had the chance to taste some good wine. The winery is run by Peter and Helen Arnold, passionate people who, after living in South Africa for over a dozen years, decided to move to Europe and open a winery here. It isn't big, and unfortunately they only sell their wine locally. But I really liked the wine, mostly the white one, delicate, with the aroma of elderflower :)

A very interesting change of pace (especially for the kids) from our frequent trips to the beach was an excursion to Benindoleig, to the Cueva de las Calaveras, the Cave of Skulls, which was discovered at the beginning of the 18th century. The name comes from the skulls found in the cave, which probably belonged to Moors who once hid in these caves. Remains from the Bronze Age were found there too. The entrance used to be completely overgrown with vegetation and invisible, and the ancient inhabitants hid in the cave from predators.

Unfortunately, we didn't manage to visit another interesting cave, supposedly beautiful, with lots of stalagmites and stalactites, Cueva de Rull. But I hope we'll be able to come back here someday.

Another attraction was the town of Guadalest with the ruins of the Moorish castle El Castell de Guadalest, which sits at the top of a mountain. Unfortunately, a large part of the castle was destroyed in the 18th century during the Spanish civil war, but to this day you can admire the ruins around the bell tower, which you can see from far away in the mountains. The view from the very top is impossible to describe. If I hadn't been there myself, I wouldn't have believed you could climb up there at all. And yet!

From Guadalest the road took us straight to the Fuentes del Algar waterfalls, which on a hot day were a perfect shelter from the sun. Of course, a swim in the waterfall's waters was a must, but the water was brrrrrr icy cold :)

And a few more views

I'm glad you made it to the end. As a reward...

RECIPE:

Gazpacho

Of course, there was also food. I've already shown you the paella pan, and the books too. I still have a few days left, so there will probably be more shopping. I hope to put it all to use soon. But there is one recipe I'd like to share with you. It's gazpacho, which I've been making for quite a few years now. Until now I didn't know how close it is to the original Spanish gazpacho. Now I know that it reminds me a lot of the gazpacho I got to try here, and (not to sound immodest) I've even had much worse gazpacho here than mine.

Gazpacho is nothing other than a type of chłodnik (a Polish chilled soup). A soup served cold, made from vegetables. Sometimes gazpacho is served in small bowls with a spoon, as a soup. Other times it's for drinking. How you serve gazpacho is up to you and the consistency you like. I serve it in glasses with spoons, with some fresh baguette. Croutons with plenty of good Spanish olive oil are perfect as a topping. You can also serve the vegetables used in the gazpacho, cut into a small dice, to sprinkle over the gazpacho as you eat it. In that case, plan on a slightly larger amount of ingredients than I gave in the recipe.

I highly recommend it!

One more note, though. If you want it simple and quick, use canned tomatoes and add ready-made vegetable broth. If you want it tastier, it's best to mix fresh tomatoes with canned ones half and half, or use only fresh ones, but flavorful and ripe, along with homemade broth. You can taste the quality of the ingredients in gazpacho.

Gazpacho

Gazpacho

Directions:

Lightly score the tomatoes, pour boiling water over them and set aside. Meanwhile, peel the cucumbers, garlic and onion. Wash the bell pepper, remove the seeds and cut it into smaller pieces. Crumble the baguette. Pour cold water over the tomatoes, then peel off the skins. Put them, along with the cucumber, bell pepper, garlic, onion and baguette, in a tall container and blend with an immersion blender into a puree. Pour in 2/3 of the broth and blend again. Stirring constantly, add the olive oil in a slow stream, followed by the balsamic vinegar. Season to taste and add more broth if needed. Serve chilled with diced vegetables, baguette or croutons, and optionally ice cubes, drizzled with a few drops of olive oil.

Enjoy!