White Gazpacho MartiniCourse three of my tasting menu; a white gazpacho Martini with vanilla oil. This recipe is borrowed from Hubert Keller, I saw him produce this as a dish on Top Chef Masters a year or two ago. I like gazpacho, I did one for a picnic awhile ago and it went down really well. Gazpacho is a summer dish so doing one in Autumn is a bit of a risk. But rather than the typical chunky, summer tomato gazpacho I am doing a smooth white cucumber and grape gazpacho and that is in season! Rather than thicken this gazpacho with bread (as is traditional) Hubert had the excellent idea of using almond flour. It produces a smooth velvety soup that doesn’t have the stickiness of bread and helps enhance the sweetness of the grapes. That sweetness is balanced by the cool, refreshing cucumber with a hint of garlic and shallot and the addition of some acidity from the sherry vinegar. I find sherry vinegar is perfect for cold dishes like gazpacho, it really comes through.
I decided to jazz up the dish by making it into a Martini. A frozen grape on a cocktail stick to represent a cocktail olive. I also wanted to add a little substance and texture to the dish. I decided on a tomato and grape salad with a few croutons to add some crunch. I went out and bought croutons – I didn’t have time or the stale bread to make them myself. It is the one of the few things I went out and bought!
To round off this dish we add a few drops of vanilla oil. You can easily make vanilla oil yourself by flavouring a neutral oil, we use grapeseed oil in this recipe but others will work. Any leftover oil can be used on chicken or fish dishes.
If you have a Thermomix you can grind your own almond flour and then add in the rest of the ingredients as per the rest of the recipe.
Ingredients (Serves 8):
2 Cucumbers
200g Green Grapes (+ 8 extra for garnish)
120g Almond Flour
3 Tablespoons Sherry Vinegar
2 Cloves Garlic
1 Shallot
125ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil
200ml Whole milk yoghurt
Vanilla Oil:
250ml Grape seed Oil
2 Vanilla Beans
Tomato and Grape Salad:
12 Plum Tomatoes
150g Grapes
1 Red Onion
2 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
Handful Fresh Basil
24 Croutons
Method:
White Gazpacho:
1. Peel the cucumbers, then cut in half (lengthwise) and scrape out all the seeds. Dice into chunks.
2. Combine all the ingredients in Thermomix with 50ml water and blitz until smooth – SP6 / 2mins.
3. Pour the gazpacho through a sieve to strain off any lumps.
4. Chill in fridge.
5. Skewer 8 grapes and place in freezer.
Vanilla Oil:
1. Cut the vanilla beans in half and scrape out the pods.
2. Add the pods to the oil and give it a shake. Leave it for 3-4 days (shaking at least once a day) before straining.
3. Pour a small amount of the oil into a dropper bottle or pipette in order to use as a dressing.
Tomato and Grape Salad:
1. Cut the tomatoes in half and remove the cores.
2. Strain the cores through a sieve, discard the seeds.
3. Dice the onion and marinate with the red wine vinegar for a few minutes.
4. Dice the tomatoes into small chunks and add some chopped basil.
5. Mix the tomatoes and onion together with the extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with some salt.
6. Dice the grapes into similar sized chunks.
Plating:
1. Pour the white gazpacho into chilled martini glasses.
2. Fill half of a chefs ring with the diced grapes, then add the tomato and onion salad mix and press down gently.
3. Scatter three croutons on each plate.
4. Lay the skewered frozen grape on top of the white gazpacho.
5. Dress the gazpacho with a few drops of vanilla oil and serve.
Tips:
– I prefer not to strain the gazpacho with a chinois as I feel a little bit of the almond flour adds some texture and weight to the soup.
– A couple drops of the vanilla oil is all that is required. Don’t over do it.
– Use vanilla beans not vanilla extract or paste to make the vanilla oil, it won’t work otherwise!
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