A chilled apple gazpacho soup is a great starter or soup course, deliciously refreshing during the warmer weather. Green apple and cucumber are finely blended with garlic, ginger, lemon, champagne vinegar and toasted almonds. Naturally gluten-free and vegetarian. There’s no cooking involved to get these fresh, bold flavors.
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Zesty, Easy Starter
This apple gazpacho recipe accomplished three goals as a first course for a wine pairing party. First, you can make it a day head of time – giving you a head start. Second, it’s served cold and can handle getting to room temp for several hours. This is great as our guests tend to drift slowly the first hour of our party. And third, it embraced a strong apple flavor in an unexpected way. It was zesty and tangy, as a gazpacho should be.
Wine Pairing
Original Pairing: L’Ecole Semillon
General Pairing: Chardonnay, Semillion, Chenin Blanc
Full Wonderful Washington Party Menu
Key Ingredients
Green apples
Crisp fresh apples are great, but this is also a great way to use those that may be a bit tired. But you want to make sure they don’t brown after you peel and cut them. Toss them with some of the lemon juice from the recipe will help. Wait to prep the apples last (after all my other items are ready to go), so they right to the blender.
Cucumber
Most of the liquid in this recipe comes from the cucumbers. They should be medium and looking fresh (not tired) so they are juicy. I used standard cucumbers from the store (not english). If they don’t get really slushy when blended , you may need to add a bit of water to get to a soup consistency.
Ginger
The recipe calls for fresh grated ginger. I also frequently buy frozen ginger cubes from Trader Joes. Ginger paste will also work, but as these are more condensed forms I would start with using half the amount (and taste test to add more if desired).
Garlic
Fresh garlic is recommended. Really fresh, as older garlic may add bitterness to this dish. Also, when to add the garlic is important, it needs to interact with the lemon juice quickly to help keep it from getting bitter.
Equipment
Blender
With my previous my “normal” sized blender, I split this recipe into two batches and give a good long time to blend. It can be done, but a higher volume, high-powered blender makes quicker work of it.
I recently purchased the much larger yet moderately priced Ninja 72oz Professional Blender.
Planning the Dish
While there’s a lot to prep, core and dice – this really shouldn’t take long to put together. You could do this the day of, but I like getting what I can out of the way when doing several courses. The acid from lemon and vinegar will keep it from “browning”, and I did not have issues with it separating overnight.
Timing
1 Day Prior: Prep and blend soup base.
Day of: Prepare garnish and sour cream mixture.
15 min to Serve: Plate quickly and serve immediately to keep it cold. It can be consumed at room temp.
Plating Tips
We used tall shot glasses (aka mini dessert cups) with little spoons that enabled about 3 fluid ounces per person. It’s pretty thick, so a spoon was required. However you can aways thin it out with a bit of water if you want it more drinkable.
To dispense, I used a plastic food storage bag (cutting off a corner) to quickly pipe the soup into the narrow shot glasses. If you decide to thin it out, use a funnel or squeeze bottle.
Garnishing can be a simple element or you can layer on multiple items. The pale cream color of the soup will work with any pop of color you may want to add: lime zest, edible flower, bits of thyme or microgreens.
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Pairing Alterations
I tried many variations of flavors prior to finalizing this recipe, as it was challenging to find a wine that could hold up to these bold flavors. With that said, you could lighten the flavor profile to be less tangy, yet not stray from the savory.
Less tangy, Still zesty
To make this dish more approachable for other white wines, I would remove the vinegar and increase the lemon juice to balance with the acidity levels of the wine you are serving.
Recipe
Apple Gazpacho
Equipment
- 1 blender
Ingredients
- 28 ounces green apples about 4 large, weigh after prep
- 24 ounces cucumbers, peeled, deseeded, cubed about 3 medium, weigh after prep
- 4 tbsp rice vinegar or any light, white vinegar
- 4 tbsp olive oil extra virgin, high quality
- 1/2 cup lemon juice fresh, not bottled
- 1 tbsp grated ginger fresh
- 4 cloves garlic medium sized
- 1 tbsp finely grated lemon zest fresh,
- 1/2 cup toasted sliced almond unsalted
- 1/2 tsp sea salt (more to taste)
- 2 tbsp lemon zest for garnish
- 1/2 cup sour cream thinned with water, for garnish
Instructions
- For smaller blenders, you may want to split this up into 2 to 3 batches.
- Prep apples and cucumbers to ensure fully peeled, cored, removal of seeds and roughly chopped.
- In a large blender (or food processor) first blend cucumber, vinegar, and lemon juice to get a watery mixture.
- Add garlic and apples to blend on high for several minutes until looks like puree.
- While running but lid on, stream in olive oil through a safe opening until well mixed.
- Pause running and add in almonds, ginger, zest, salt and pepper and blend on high for several minutes to create a fine texture. Can add a bit of water to thin out if too thick.
- Taste for salt level (add more to taste).
- For tasting portion, serve in small glasses – about 2 fluid ounces per serving.
- Top with a small swirl of sour cream and pinch of lemon zest.
