Tattoo On Food

White Gazpacho Jelly, Red Gazpacho granita, Gazpacho Salsa and White Anchovies

This recipe is a variation on something I ate at a Spanish tapas bar, Delicado Foods, in McMahons point NSW. If you are in the area this restaurant is not to be missed.

Ajo Blanco – White Gazpacho
Ajo Blanco is a traditional Spanish chilled soup. It translates as ‘white garlic’ and the idea behind this dish is to balance the warm pungency of garlic, the sharp acidity of vinegar and the milky nuttiness of almonds. Just for a little bit of flair, and thanks to Paul at Delicado Foods in Sydney for his idea, this Ajo Blanco has been prepared as a jelly. Like most soups, and definitely when preparing this as a jelly, make this a day or so in advance to allow the flavor to develop and the gelatin to set. If you intend to serve this soup solely on its own - perhaps as a starter or part of a lunch of tapas, simply leave out the gelatin. Garnish the soup with fresh peeled grapes.

Ingredients
2 Cups of Almond Meal
750ml Iced Water
3 Cloves of Garlic (Crushed in 1 tsp Salt)
1 Fist sized piece of Stale Bread (Soaked in water for 5 minutes)
60ml Sherry Vinegar
60ml Olive Oil
½ tsp Salt & Pepper
10g Gelatin Leaf

In a blender combine almond meal, water and garlic puree. Blend for 5-10 minutes until it becomes white with the consistency of cream. Add bread, vinegar, oil and salt & pepper then continue to blend for a few more minutes. Strain mixture through a fine sieve. This is the point at which you would stop to use the Ajo Blanco as a soup.

To prepare the jelly, soak 15g of gelatin leaf in cold water until soft. Squeeze out water and place in a pot over a gentle heat. Allow the gelatin to melt then slowly add the soup to the pot, constantly stirring. Refrigerate overnight in loaf tin and allow to set.


Gazpacho Granita
Normally gazpacho is a chilled soup also, made with peppers, tomato and cucumber. Granita is like a chunky sorbet. This here simply combines the two by freezing the soup whilst breaking with a fork to a product like a chunky slurpie. Like the Ajo Blanco, this recipe is perfect for making the traditional soup; simply don’t do the freezing part. Set aside about 1Tbs of each of these ingredients before they are processed to prepare your salsa later.


Ingredients
1 White Onion (chopped)
1 Green Cucumber (peeled, seeded and chopped)
3 Cloves of Garlic
3 Tomato’s
½ Red Capsicum (seeded and chopped)
2 Greed Capsicum (seeded and chopped)
300ml Tomato Juice
1 tsp Sea Salt & Pepper
40ml Sherry Vinegar
20ml Tabasco Sauce (optional)
125ml water
2 tsp sugar


Combine all ingredients in a blender and process until complete smooth. This may take 5 – 10 minutes. To serve as a soup chill for a few hours then serve.

To prepare the granita, place the mixture in a shallow dish then into your freezer uncovered for 1 ½ hours. After this time, break the mixture up with a fork until it forms a slurry. Repeat this process every half an hour for 2 hours. Ones this is complete, cover with cling wrap and continue storing in the freezer.


Gazpacho Salad/Salsa
To prepare the salsa simply finely diced about 1tbs of each of the ingredients used in the Gazpacho granita. Dress with a little vinegar and olive oil. This salsa would also be perfect as a garnish for grilled fish, a dip or as a bruschetta mix.


Garnish – White Anchovies, Grapes and Celery Leaves
Although I think that if you are going to go to the trouble to prepare this dish then you would be crazy to leave out any of these components, I do understand that garnish can sometimes be a bit of expensive fuss. Should you choose to omit the grapes, celery and anchovies the dish will still be beautiful.


Another possible deterrent to this particular garnish is that most scary of all the ingredients out there – “The Anchovy”. For all you non-anchovores there is something you must know. They are not just the little fury fish that you insist do not come within ten feet of your pizza. Anchovies come in many different ways including fresh and pickled. The anchovies used in this recipe are the pickled ones. Instead of the brown overwhelming salty fish flavor you may have had in the past, the pickled variety are much more delicate with plump, soft, white flesh that perfectly combine the of acidity of pickling and the flavor of the sea. If you have never tried a ‘white anchovy’, as they are known, then it is something you must do. Another interesting point regarding anchovies - they account for pretty close to 50% of all of the fish that we take from the sea in total each year!


Final Preparation
Take a heaped spoon of the Ajo Blanco jelly and place in the middle of the plate. Spoon a little of the granita to the side then sprinkle some salsa over the top. Dress the plate with some peeled and halved grapes, a couple of white anchovies and a few celery leaves. Enjoy!