Summer Watermelon Gazpacho With Basil Oil

Summer watermelon gazpacho is a refreshing, silky, sweet twist on the classic Spanish gazpacho. The watermelon adds a fruity, fresh element and creates a gorgeous rosy red hue. This soup is the perfect hot summers day refresher, for lunch or diner. An ideal blend of light and subtle ingredients, that complement each other beautifully and come together to make this soup, summer in a bowl. Excellent packed in a glass bottle and brought on a picnic.

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Step 1:

Summer Watermelon Gazpacho with Basil Oil

4 cups of chopped ripened tomatoes
3 cups of roughly chopped watermelon
1 1/2 cups of cucumber, peeled and chopped
1 small red pepper (capsicum), roughly chopped
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
1 smal red onion, roughly chopped
Juice from half a lime
1/2 cup of olive oil
3 tblsp. of chopped fresh basil leaves
Two pinches of sea salt
Pinch of ground black pepper
1 teaspoon of white sugar (if your tomatoes are not sweet enough)

Combine all of the above ingredients in a bowl, and in batches blend at high speed until very smooth. Now, strain the mixture through a fine sieve (this is the most labour intensive part but the results are well worth it). Push all the liquid through the sieve with a spatula. You will be left with a beautifully silky gazpacho and in the sieve, the pulp from the mix. (I like to keep the pulp and I use it as a pasta sauce for an easy midweek mea)l.

Now chill your gazpacho until nice and cold and serve topped with a drizzle of basil oil and micro herbs.

Step 2:

For the basil oil, with a hand blender, blend 1/4 cup of olive oil, a small pinch of salt and 10 basil leaves until the oil is a bright, smooth green. Use to drizzle lightly on top of your soup.