Gazpacho shots with poppyseed & paprika twists

There's no doubt about it now - summer is officially here. With this weekend's temperatures predicted to reach 30 C, the smell of barbecue is already in the air. And, judging by our recent luck, that might be it for the rest of this season, so we better make the most of it!
But the thing is that after a while, even the most elaborate barbecue seems too heavy to stomach in the sweltering heat and all I long for is something light and refreshing with a bit of zing! I know many people who don't like the idea of chilled soups, but in my weird little world, gazpacho is really hard to beat on a hot day. If not as a main meal, then at least as a starter or finger food! At the height of the season, nothing can bring out the taste of summer better than this concoction of perfectly ripe vegetables - make sure you buy locally-grown produce for a real burst of flavours, rather than mass-produced, insipid-tasting fruit... I mean, how much can you contribute to anything after a week's trip round the world with even less legroom than on low-cost airlines?
Now, there must be about as many recipes for gazpacho as there are cooks on this planet - but this just proves that it's the perfect dish to experiment with. Unlike patisserie, where small deviations from the original can have disastrous consequences, you can happily throw anything into a gazpacho and vary the quanities according to your taste or what's left over in the fridge. Here's my preferred version, although I tend to experiment a little bit every time... I like to add some red chilli or a generous dash of tabasco to give it a bit of a kick and, if serving in shot glasses like for the blog birthday party a few weeks back, I might even sneak in a drop of vodka each - Gazpacho meets Bloody Mary... I can tell you, seldom has a blind date been so successful!

Gazpacho
(yields 18 shots or serves 2 as a light meal, 4 as a starter)

1 stalk celery
1 red pepper (ca. 300 g)
1 yellow papper (ca. 300 g)
500 g cucumber (peeled)
6 spring onions
2 cloves garlic (crushed)
150 g tomatoes
2 tbsp passata (thick tomato sauce)
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp white balsamic vinegar
generous dash of tabasco (to taste)
chopped chives (to decorate, optional)

Work all vegetables in a food processor until very finely chopped. Put in a blender with the liquid ingredients and process until completely smooth. Add water or a very light soup stock until reaching the required consistency - if eating as a chilled soup, add ca. 100 ml, for shots, you might need 250-300 ml.
If serving as a soup, serve with garlic croutons or a freshly baked ciabatta.
For shots, try decorating them shots with come chives or serve with a thin stick of celery or cucumber as a stirrer.

Poppyseed & paprika twists
(yields 30 - 40)

375 g ready-rolled puff pastry
1 egg
4 tbsp poppyseeds
smoked, ground paprika (hot or mild)

Cover two baking trays with silicone mats or a similar non-stick lining and pre-heat the oven to 200C.
Cut the puff pastry into thin strips widthwise (ca. 0.5 - max. 1 cm wide). Grab hold of both ends and gently twists as closely as possible, laying each twist down on a baking tray. To make sure they don't unfold, press the ends lightly to the tray so they'll stay put.
Whisk the egg and brush each twist thoroughly and carefully. Sprinkle with generous amounts of parpika and poppyseeds, then pop into the oven.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until crisp and brown.

Comments

[Niki]

I had to reread one of your sentences twice to make sure I'd understand properly, and then I giggled. Sometimes it's so easy to forget that in many parts of the world 30 degrees *is* considered sweltering heat. Melbourne is one of the cooler cities of Australia, but 30 degrees is pretty standard through summer and autumn. I'm not fond of any temperature above 24, personally. Definitely a winter person!

[angelika]

I have never been cagey about the fact that your recipes are of the kind that I like and most of my "blog-found" recipes originate from yours. So it's not just a saying that I will definitely try both recipes (very) soon... We also have gone thru a heat wave here but today it's much cooler. Nevertheless, cold treats are so much tastier... A nice weekend to You and Yours, angelika

[Tanna]

Yes, I consider this the perfect summer food. I've made it for years and I'm 100% with you, I may never have made it the same way twice but it's always wonderful.
Now, about that blind date, I'm thinking that's one I haven't tried yet!
Stay cool!

[Pille]

There was vodka in our gazpacho shots??? They were delicious and I will definitely 'steal' the idea for entertaining (especially back home, where vodka shot glasses abound:)
Puff pastry twists were great, too!

[spots]

hi jo, haven't visited ur blog in a while - gazpacho shots are a great idea! thanks! weather over here is always hot - so something cooling like gazpacho is always welcome! :)

[manuela]

hi,

this site is great! and i think i can find a lot of hints and tips for my next party (i told you on sunday, 9th of july). thanks a lot for the picnic and hopefully we can see each other in vienna again.

best wishes to you,
manuela

[johanna]

Niki, of course this must sound strange to you - but we had 35C and it was almost unbearable last weekend. Lucky that we could dip our feet in the Thames at the Royal Regatta on Saturday!!! I don't like the cold too much either, I must say - so that makes me a spring and autumn person, I guess? I'd like it to be 20-25C all year round!
Pille, no Vodka this time (for very selfish reasons), but I do add it sometimes...

[Martina Höglinger]

Ich wünsche dir wunderschöne Ferien und einen gelungenen Urlaub mit deiner Familie.

Lg, Martina

[Gabriella]

oooh. Now those look divine. I could have used one or two today.

oh and join us any time for weekend baby blogging. We have it every week

[swingers]

I like to imagine myself as a model, like a fashion type.
It never happened for me, so now I'm going the
glamour route. http://www.geocities.com/swingers_ads_2005/ I came back
for the one in my green heels two days later.
The weather was warm so being bottomless was actually a lot of fun.