A summer recipe par excellence, and very quick to prepare. You might need to adjust quantities, according to taste and the size of the tomatoes.
5 ripe tomatoes
1 cucumber
1 green or red pepper
1 onion
1 clove garlic
200 g day-old bread, crusts removed
2 tbsps olive oil
wine vinegar
salt & pepper
chili or cayenne pepper
tomato puree (optional)
ice cubes
Soak the bread in water while you prepare the vegetables. Peel and chop the garlic and onion. Dice the pepper, discarding the seeds. Peel the tomatoes and squeeze out the pips. Peel the cucumber, remove the seeds, and cut into dice.
Reserve some of the cucumber and pepper for decoration. Put all of the other ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. If it’s too thick, you might need to water it down a bit at this point (but remember you’ll be putting ice cubes in it later). If your tomatoes weren’t ripe enough, you might also need to perk up the colour with some tomato puree. Season to taste (it should be quite spicy), and chill for at least two hours.
To serve, make some small croutons of bread, quickly fried in olive oil, and cut the reserved pepper and cucumber into tiny dice. Add a couple of ice cubes to each bowl, and scatter on the vegetable garnish and croutons.