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.
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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!