Gazpacho

Name: Gazpacho
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Spanish
Ingredients: Very ripe tomatoes; Cucumber; Red pepper; Mild onion; Garlic cloves; Firm tofu; Spanish extra virgin olive oil; Red wine vinegar; Salt

155 kcal a serving, against 290 for the traditional version. That is 135 kcal off, or 47%, with 8.5g of protein. Serves 4. 20 minutes.

What the traditional version is

Classic gazpacho is made with ripe tomatoes, cucumber, green pepper, onion, garlic, white bread (soaked, then squeezed out), a generous splash of olive oil, sherry vinegar, and salt. Everything goes in the blender together, and the key is to let it chill for a good hour so the flavours can get friendly. The result isn't just refreshing and cold - it's rich, smooth and almost creamy from the absurd amount of oil. It pours thick, coats your mouth, and makes you full enough to skip lunch.

What changed, and what each change costs

Olive oil slashed from 80g to 16g

The soup's gorgeous texture comes from blitzing in heaps of oil - it thickens and goes a sunny orange. But a single teaspoon per portion is all your tally can take if you're trimming. That means you don't get the same thick, creamy effect; it's closer to a chilled tomato juice.

What it costs you. You lose the dreamy, almost mayonnaise-like body the oil gives. The soup pours thinner and feels less silky. If you want the old luxury, you'd need to up the oil (and stop reading this).

White bread swapped for firm tofu

Bread does two jobs: thickens the soup and rounds out the flavour. Unfortunately, it brings next to no protein and soaks up calories you're desperate to save. Firm tofu blends in without making a fuss, thickens plenty, and gives the soup backbone. It does make it subtly earthier, though nothing drastic.

What it costs you. You can taste the difference if you're a gazpacho obsessive: tofu isn't bread, and it gives a whisper of beany flavour at the back. The texture is less bready and more mousse-like than the original - not worse, just not the same. It's a swap I'd make even if I wasn't counting.

Extra tomato and cucumber, small bump in pepper

Dropping bread cuts volume, so you need more veg to fill the bowl and keep it cold and juicy. The fresh taste is boosted, but the structure is lighter and the soup won't keep you full nearly as long.

What it costs you. There's no 'stodge' at all. It's definitely a starter, not lunch. Good news: more tomato equals more brightness. Bad news: you'll want a sandwich later.

What goes in it

The ingredients, without the quantities. The weights are what the figures below are computed from, and they are in the book.

Very ripe tomatoes
Cucumber
Red pepper
Mild onion
Garlic cloves
Firm tofu
Spanish extra virgin olive oil
Red wine vinegar
Salt

How it starts

Start with the juiciest, ripest tomatoes you can find.
Peel and deseed the cucumber, chunk it up and add to the blender along with the tomatoes.
Slice the red pepper, discarding the seeds and white parts.

The rest of the method, and every weight, is in Authentic-ish Spanish.

The numbers

Per serving	Traditional	Lightened
Calories	290	155
Protein	4.3g	8.5g
Fat	21.3g	7.3g
Saturated fat	3g	1.1g
Carbohydrate	23g	17.6g
Protein per 100 kcal	1.5g	5.5g

Every figure is computed from the recipe's own weighed ingredient list against public food composition databases. The appendix in Authentic-ish Spanish prints the exact database row used for each ingredient, so any number here can be checked. How every number is computed sets out the method.

Allergens. soybeans, sulphites.

The method is in the book

The best gazpacho is a meal in itself - creamy, thick and almost closer to a drinkable salad. This isn't that. Here, it's a fresh, cold lift on a blazing day. You'll get more brightness and bite, and it's easier to finish a big glass. But you won't end up as full, and you'll never trick a Spaniard. If you can't live without the creamy hit, splash in more oil and take the consequences.

The quantities and the method for this dish are in Authentic-ish Spanish, along with 57 more. Buy the paperback