GAZPACHO WITH OVEN-BAKED TOMATOES AND FRESH BAY LEAVES

Now when the sun is blazing and the heat rolls over you wave after wave, I know what I need and crave: gazpacho! I love gazpacho, I have loved it since my first mouthful as a 12 years old gawky girl with a soft spot for Tabasco. But it is not so easy to find a good gazpacho I find, or maybe it's just me being fussy so I am perpetually trying out new ways of making it, my last effort is this one where I have used oven-baked tomatoes and the sweet flavour of bay leaves and I have to say that I like this version quite a lot but we all have our preferences when it come to gazpachos don't we?

GAZPACHO WITH OVENBAKED TOMATOES AND FRESH BAY LEAVES
2-4 pservings

400 g/14,1 oz mature tomatoes
150 g/5,3 sweet red bell peppers, trimmed
100 g/3,5 peeled cucumber
50 g/1,75 oz sweet red onion, peeled
2-3 fresh bay leaves
250 ml/1 cup water
1-2 tblsp cider vinegar
Tabasco, optional
salt
extra-virgin olive oil

Use a knife and cut away that green part on top of the tomatoes, put the tomatoes in an oven-proof form and drizzle a little olive oil over before baking in a pre-heated oven (200°C/390°F) for approximately 15 minutes.

While you wait, take the bay leaves and remove as much as possible of the hard, central nerve and tear into smaller pieces

Peel the tomatoes and put them in the bowl of a food processor together with the bell pepper, cucumber and onion, all of which you have cut into pieces. Add the bay leaves and run the food processor until the gazpacho until it is smooth.

Add water, vinegar, Tabasco, salt and a pinch of sugar if needed, mix again and then taste. Let the soup get really cold and nice in the fridge before serving.