Gespacho chilled summer soup

Gespacho! Chilled, smooth vegetable soup. I was once told by a Spaniard that Gazpacho is like a liquid salad and ever since adding olive oil and vinegar to the mix it's become one of my favourite summer dishes. It's fresh, crisp and feels so healthy.

INGREDIENTS

1 regular cucumber, or 2 baby cucumbers, cut into rough chunks

11-14 cherry tomatoes, or 3 medium regular tomatoes, cut in halves

1/4 fresh chili or a pinch of dried chili flakes, tabasco or any other hot sauce*

2 red bell peppers, deseeded and chopped into rough chunks

small handful of parsley or 3 leaves of basil*

1/2 or 1 full avocado, pit removed

2 celery stalks

1/2 garlic clove

drizzle extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp white wine vinegar

salt & pepper

* optional*

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Place all the ingredients in a blender including seasoning. Blend. add more salt & pepper if needed. If you want to soup chilly cold, then transfer the soup to an appropriate container and store in the fridge until cool. I myself, having a sensitive digestion prefer to have it at room temperature.

2. You can add some of the vegetables as a garnish, chopped in small cubes. As I did with cucumber but honestly its not really needed.

3. Place the soup in a bowl, add garnish if you want, and finally a small drizzle of olive oil over the top.