When I saw a recipe in my Spanish-themed Kitchen Trotter box for a gazpacho, I was expecting to discover a cold soup. This fishy version from Valencia, however, is to be eaten hot and it's more like a stew than a soup. We ate ours lukewarm as it was such a hot day and it was perfect as a summer meal.
It required two products from the box - some saffron and a pack of Tortas Cenceñas, which are like mini crackers. I thought they'd go soggy and horrible but you can't even detect them in the finished dish - they just bulk it out and thicken it.
Gazpacho manchego de mera
ingredients :
300g white fish
3 very ripe tomatoes
1/2 a red pepper
1 onion
1 clove of garlic
a good pinch of saffron
1/2 a bag of tortas cenceñas or crackers
2 bay leaves
500ml water
1tbsp tomato concentrate
2tbsp olive oil
salt, pepper
Cook the fish in a drizzle of olive oil for 5 minutes on each side and set aside. Season with salt and pepper. I chopped mine into chunks to save time as it will be broken up in the gazpacho anyway.
In a separate pan (or, to save washing up, put the fish into a large soup pan and reuse the frying pan), heat a drizzle of olive oil and cook the onions, garlic and red pepper for 5 minutes, along with the bay leaves.
Add the tomatoes and cook for a further 5 minutes.
Put the fish in a large soup pot and mash it up with a fork. Remove any visible bones.
Stir the tomato mixture into the fish and crumble the crackers over the top. Toss in the saffron and gradually stir in 500ml of boiling water.
Cook for 15 minutes, adding extra water if necessary so that it doesn't dry out. I added a squeeze of tomato concentrate too but this wasn't in the original recipe.
Serve warm.
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Looks wonderful.
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