How to Make Chef John's Gazpacho Pasta Salad

All Recipes

In this video, Chef John shows you how to create his refreshing Gazpacho Pasta Salad, a perfect dish for hot summer days. Learn how to combine fresh vegetables and pasta with a flavorful gazpacho-inspired dressing to make a vibrant, chilled salad.

Transcript

00:00Hello, this is Chef John from FoodWishes.com with Gazpacho Pasta Salad.

00:08That's right, we're doing a pasta salad based on everybody's favorite cold summer soup.

00:13Sorry Vichyssoise, maybe we'll do you next summer.

00:17But anyway, besides being gorgeous, this was wonderfully fresh and vibrant, and most importantly

00:22deliciously different.

00:24And to get started, let's take a look at the main ingredients, which not surprisingly include

00:28cucumbers, peppers, and tomatoes.

00:31We will also sneak in a little bit of garlic and some green onion.

00:35And as far as the cucumber prep goes, what we'll do is start by peeling half, since I

00:40generally don't want the skin on the cucumber, I'm going to blend with the rest of the Gazpacho

00:43ingredients.

00:44But I think we also want to add some fresh diced cucumber to the final salad.

00:48So once we've reserved that peeled portion for the Gazpacho, we will take the unpeeled

00:52piece and cut that into like three or four inch sections.

00:56And then we'll simply turn that and cut straight down, making some nice thin slices.

01:00And by the way, if you mess up and one's a little too thin, just eat it.

01:04In the business, we refer to that as destroying the evidence.

01:08But anyway, what we'll do is line up some of those slices and then cut those into strips.

01:12And then we'll eventually turn those and slice across, which is going to give us a nice small

01:17fairly uniform dice.

01:19And I said fairly uniform, since we're doing a pasta salad, we don't have to worry about

01:23getting these perfectly precise.

01:25But anyway, we'll use this to toss into our finished pasta salad later, along with some

01:29peppers and onions that we do the same way.

01:32And then as far as putting together our Gazpacho, we'll go ahead and add our peeled, cut up

01:35cucumber to a blender, along with our peppers that we've seeded and roughly chopped, followed

01:41by some sliced up green onion and peeled garlic, and then the best, most perfect, sweetest

01:46tomatoes we can find.

01:48Right, these really should come from a garden or a farmer's market, since this is only going

01:53to be as good as the tomatoes.

01:55And then I decided to add a little bit of fresh basil, but other herbs like cilantro

01:59or mint would also work.

02:01And then we'll season that up with a generous amount of salt, as well as some freshly ground

02:06black pepper.

02:07And then to hedge our bets, a little bit of sugar.

02:09Oh yeah, all the great deli pasta salads have a little bit of sugar in them.

02:14And then we'll finish this up with some red wine vinegar, or some white wine vinegar,

02:18or the vinegar of your choice.

02:20And then last but not least, we'll finish up with some oil.

02:24And I used to blend a half olive oil and half vegetable oil, since all olive oil might be

02:28too strong.

02:29And then once we have everything in, we'll go ahead and blend this up nice and smooth.

02:35And then once that's been accomplished, you will never guess which optional step we can

02:38do next.

02:39Oh yeah, you got it.

02:41I'm going to strain this, which as I just mentioned, is definitely optional.

02:46But it's probably going to take you less than a minute, and we'll be able to catch the seeds

02:50and the tough skins, especially from the peppers.

02:53So for me, this step is not optional, but for you it is.

02:57But either way, our gorgeous gazpacho is now done, and we can, if we want, give it a taste

03:02at this point, and maybe adjust some seasoning.

03:06But it should be very close, and it's always better to do our final adjustments once our

03:10pasta salad is done and ready to serve.

03:14In any event, once our gazpacho is set, we will cook a pound of pasta, which as always,

03:19we will boil in some generously salted water.

03:22And for me, the best choice here is a large elbow macaroni, but really any open pasta

03:27or pasta with a hole in it will work.

03:30And as far as the doneness goes, unlike some chefs, I do not like to undercook the pasta

03:35for a salad.

03:36All right, some recipes say to undercook it like two minutes, because it will soften in

03:39the dressing, which is true, but I think you get a weird texture.

03:44So if the package says seven to nine minutes, I'll usually pull it off somewhere between

03:48six-thirty and seven exactly.

03:50And once we do, we're going to want to drain that extremely well.

03:54And once that is drained and in a strainer, we should take a spoon and give it a good

03:58toss to not only jostle free excess liquid, so it drains off, but also to release that

04:04steam and heat, since I do like to let the pasta cool for about five minutes before we

04:09add it to the gazpacho.

04:11So that's what I did.

04:12I let it sit for about five minutes after that initial stir, and then we'll go ahead

04:16and give that one more stir before we transfer it into our gazpacho, which again, in this

04:22context is a dressing, and we will take a spoon to give that a mix.

04:27And I know it looks like we have way too much gazpacho for this, but you'll see, the holes

04:32in our pasta are going to soak in a surprising amount.

04:35And believe it or not, after sitting overnight in the fridge, virtually all of our gazpacho

04:40will have been absorbed.

04:42So that's the good news.

04:44And I also gave you the bad news, that we have to wait overnight for this to be ready.

04:48So we'll go ahead and wrap that up and pop it in the fridge, and then we'll pull it out

04:52the next day and give it a mix.

04:55And don't let that dry, weird looking surface fool you.

04:57Even though most of the dressing's soaked in, this should still be nice and wet and saucy.

05:02And I should mention, most of the dressing will be absorbed after like four or five hours,

05:06so you don't have to go overnight if you can't.

05:09Although I do think it is better.

05:11But anyway, that's your call.

05:12I mean, you are, after all, the candidate of how long to wait.

05:16And speaking of obvious choices, once that's mixed we're going to give it a taste for seasoning.

05:21And I'm happy to report mine was perfect, which means we can finish this up by mixing

05:25in some diced vegetables, which for me is going to be a little bit of red onion, some

05:30nice sweet red bell pepper, and the cucumber I showed you how to do earlier.

05:35And that's it.

05:36We'll give that one last mix.

05:37And you could, if you want, add something like diced avocado to this, or some more fresh

05:42herb if you want.

05:43Okay, just because we're calling it a gazpacho pasta salad, doesn't mean you can't toss in

05:47things you put into your regular pasta salad.

05:50But having said that, I did want to keep mine as close to a gazpacho as I could.

05:54And that's it.

05:55Once mixed, we can transfer that into some kind of nice bowl, or maybe one like this.

06:00And then for one last touch, for a little splash of color, I sprinkle a few more diced

06:04veggies over the top.

06:06And that's it.

06:07What we're calling gazpacho pasta salad was ready to enjoy.

06:11So I grabbed a spoon and served some up.

06:13And as I hope you can see, I think the texture is perfect.

06:18Not too soupy, but appropriately saucy.

06:21And that, my friends, if you like gazpacho, and you're a fan of cold pasta salads, is

06:26something you're going to love very, very much.

06:29It is very bright and sharp and acidic, but I think that's perfectly balanced with the

06:33sweetness from the tomatoes.

06:35And even though we put a fair amount of olive oil in this, it's really not rich or heavy

06:39at all.

06:40And I think a couple words that are going to come to mind when you eat this will be

06:43light and refreshing, and also vibrant and flavorful, and maybe clean and bracing.

06:50Which reminds me, this is fine alone, but I think where this is really going to shine

06:55would be next to some nice rich fatty meat, which I unfortunately didn't have any of.

06:59So what I'm going to do is finish this bowl, and then go find myself some rich fatty meat.

07:04And what I hope you do is give this amazing gazpacho pasta salad a try soon.

07:10So please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts, a printable written recipe,

07:14and much more info as usual.

07:16And as always, enjoy!

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended