IAN & SPAIN

This week I would like to share with you another gazpacho recipe as temperatures are soaring, a refreshing dish is ideal for any meal.  Yes, I love avocados and I am always trying new ways to enjoy them! My last gazpacho recipe was based mainly on courgettes but combined with avocados and today's recipe also involves avocado but with a different approach. It is slightly lighter than the previous recipe but also wonderfully refreshing and delicate in flavour. Ideal as a starter for any meal, be it fish, meat or rice and if you prefer a more filling dish just add more prawns and accompany with some bread! Avocados are readily available right now too so no better time to give it a go!

This is what you will need for 4 servings:

For the gazpacho:

2 avocados
1 green bell pepper
1 cucumber
1 spring onion
½ clove of garlic
4 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tablespoon of sherry vinegar
1 lemon
Pepper
Salt

For the garnish:

12 peeled king prawns
Some baby leaves - mixed salad
2 pear tomatoes
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar cream
Olive oil
Pepper
Salt

For the aromatic oil:

10 basil leaves
Extra Virgin olive oil

• Peel the cucumber, wash it and chop it up. Squeeze the lemon. Wash the pepper, clean it and chop it. Peel the avocados cut them in half, remove the stones, take out the pulp and drizzle it with the lemon juice to prevent it from oxidizing.

• Clean the spring onions, removing the roots and the green stalks, and wash them. Peel the garlic. Chop both, and place them in the blender, with the avocado, cucumber and pepper. Add the oil and vinegar. Add Salt and pepper then add a glass of water and blend until you get a homogeneous cream. Put the cream in the fridge, in a covered container.

• Now prepare the aromatic oil: wash the basil leaves, dry them with kitchen paper and chop them up. Grind them with the oil until you get an emulsified mixture. Wash the tomatoes, cut a cross into each end of the tomatoes, and scald them in a saucepan with boiling salted water for 2 minutes. Drain them, cool them in cold water and peel them - where you cut the cross you will see that the skin has started to peel away. Cut them into medium-sized segments and remove the seeds.

• Wash the king prawns(peeled) and pat them dry. Heat a few drops of oil in a nonstick skillet; add and sauté for 1 minute, just until they change colour. Remove and season.

• Wash the salad leaves, pat dry and chop lightly. When ready to serve, divide the gazpacho into 4 bowls or deep plates and arrange the tomatoes, shrimp and salad leaves on top. Water with a few drops of balsamic vinegar cream and a string of the basil oil which you previously prepared. 

Enjoy!

This week I thought I would share with you a summer recipe as temperatures are soaring, and a refreshing starter is ideal for any meal. Although most cold soups in Spain are based around the tomato such as Gazpacho Andaluz or Salmorejo, this one is based primarily on avocados. It is wonderfully refreshing and delicate in flavour. Ideal as a starter for any meal, be it fish, meat or rice. Avocados are readily available right now too.

The avocado is a product originally from the American continent, where the Aztecs believed it had aphrodisiac properties. Since pre-Columbian times it has been cultivated in Mexico and the rest of Central America under the name "ahuacatl".

In the seventeenth century the Spaniards, who named it the Indian Pear because of its similarity to the national pear, was taken by them to the West Indies, while the Portuguese took it to Brazil.

In the eighteenth century, the Spanish adventurers introduced it into the Canary Islands via the Botanical Garden of Orotava, where it jumped to the Peninsula.  Now it is generally cultivated in the Mediterranean area, from Murcia down to Andalucía.

It is such a simple recipe to make and healthy at the same time, so I hope you enjoy it.

The Ingredients you will need for 4-6 people are the following:

4 large ripe avocados - make sure they are ripe and not hard.
2 large chicken carcasses for stock ( or ready-made chicken stock, enough for 4-6 servings)
1 cup evaporated milk (approx. 200ml)
1 sweet potato
1 lemon
Water
Extra Virgin Olive Oil (preferably a good Picual – eg. Oro Bailén)
Salt, Pepper
Parsley

Put the chicken carcasses in a pressure cooker with water (covering the carcasses), two sprigs of parsley and a pinch of salt. Close the cooker and cook on mark 2 for 5 minutes once the safety valve has risen. Once cooked, sieve and let it cool down.

Cut 3 avocados in half and scoop out the flesh into to a bowl. Add the juice of half a lemon. Blend with and electric mixer. Pour part of the chicken broth and continue blending, it should have a light consistency. Add the evaporated milk and continue blending. Add a pinch of salt and pepper to taste.

Peel the sweet potato and cut into very thin strips “Julienne” style, effectively we want potato straws, so nice and thin. Fry in a pan with hot olive oil. Remove to a plate with some kitchen towel in order to remove excess fat.

Peel the last avocado, scoop out the flesh and dice it up into bite-size cubes and place to one side. 

Serve the soup in bowl and place in the centre a little chopped avocado and fried sweet potato on top. Garnish with a sprig of parsley and you’re ready to go.

You may want to accompany this starter with some toasted bread topped with Iberian ham and olive oil, it accompanies the avocado really well.

The sweet potato is a potato-like tropical tuber. They differ in that this potato has a thicker skin and a more elongated shape, but more so in the flavour, which is sweet thus adding a wonderful touch to the dish.

This dish is highly recommended for all children, youth, adults, athletes, pregnant women, nursing mothers and the elderly.

It high contribution of antioxidants and monounsaturated fats makes it a recommended dish especially for those with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. 

Monounsaturated fats have the property of reducing the rates of total blood cholesterol because they elevate the so-called "good cholesterol".

As for the vitamin content of this recipe, there are three that deserve more attention for their antioxidant capabilities: vitamin C, beta-carotene and vitamin E.

Furthermore, due to its richness in magnesium and potassium, and its low sodium level, this recipe is highly recommended for those who suffer from hypertension or heart conditions.

Enjoy!