FOOD & DRINK / Cool chic: hot favourite: Gazpacho, a Spanish peasant dish, has achieved dinner-party status. Michael Bateman reports

GAZPACHO is Spain's favourite summer soup. Sometimes it's taken as a drink, like a chilled tomato juice; at others it's presented in restaurant pomp, surrounded by half a dozen bowls of finely cubed salad vegetables to add to your taste.

It's now, in July, that the soup comes into its own because in Spain the tastiest, outdoor tomatoes reach a peak of ripeness and sweetness (as our outdoor tomatoes will in August, if the weather holds). Soon we will be able to buy imported Italian plum tomatoes which suit this soup perfectly. Those sold as a cluster from the vine are especially sweet if you are lucky enough to find a supplier.

Although gazpacho today enjoys a famous reputation in Spain this was not always so. At the beginning of the 19th century a French traveller in Spain pronounced gazpacho 'infernal', a hellish soup, and was offended by the large amount of pungent raw garlic in it. It was only later in the century, when Napoleon III married a grand Andalusian lady, the Countess Eugenia de Montijo, that gazpacho underwent a transformation and emerged as a chic cold summer soup in Paris.

In Spain, gazpacho is considered to be their oldest dish. Its first incarnation was as peasants' fare, stale bread moistened with diluted vinegar, with the addition of any little morsels available. It has even been claimed that it is of Roman origin, that what the soldiers offered Jesus on the cross was an early form of gazpacho, a sop of bread and diluted vinegar. Nicholas Butcher, in his book The Spanish Kitchen, says this was known as a posca.

Gazpacho is not a Spanish word. In The Diner's Dictionary John Ayto claims that it is of Arabic origin, meaning soaked bread. Is it, though? The scholarly Jane Grigson believed it derives from kaz, a Spanish Arabic word for the wooden bowl in which the soup is served. Kaz posca? In gazpacho's humble past no one could have cared less, but it got a much-needed lift when the conquistadores returned from the New World with some decent new ingredients, tomatoes and green peppers.

A modern gazpacho is essentially a salad served as a soup; basically a pureed salad, with its dressing and all, thickened with breadcrumbs and thinned with water. The salad ingredients are therefore tomato, cucumber, red or green peppers, onion and garlic; with olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. These are repeated in the garnishes, often with garlic croutons, or sieved hard-boiled egg.

Every city in the south of Spain has its own variation. Most include breadcrumbs to give body; they are moistened in water, squeezed and pounded and pressed though a sieve (these days it's easy with a blender). Other gazpacho-style soups are thickened with pounded almonds. There are also gazpachos with pounded pine nuts. And so on.

There is a thick gazpacho from Cordoba called salmorejo which has no water added. And there is the lovely gazpacho of Huelva which is green, made with lettuce, curly chicory, parsley, basil and coriander. In Jaen they make it with potato. In Granada they add broad beans and chives. Gazpacho variants are found with the addition of fruit, chopped apples, pear and melons. Peeled and seeded muscat grapes are served as a garnish to Malaga's famous sister soup to gazpacho, ajo blanco.

INGREDIENTS: The freshness and quality of the ingredients are essential, so it is probably not worth attempting the soup if you can use only tasteless commercial tomatoes. Even some varieties of canned tomatoes leave much to be desired. But things are looking up and all the supermarkets are trying harder in this department. Fresh Italian plum tomatoes may be best; they should be plunged into boiling water for 30 seconds, then into cold water, and peeled and deseeded before blending.

Most supermarkets now sell good passata (jars of thick tomato puree) and that's often a better bet than the usual canned tomatoes, though varieties such as San Marzano are worth seeking out. Tinned (or tubed) tomato paste isn't a good idea as it gives a metallic, coarse taste.

Spring onions or mild Spanish red onions are preferable. Mediterranean green peppers (Cypriot for example) are delicately crisper and tastier than the tough-skinned Dutch hothouse varieties. If you find their skins indigestible take a potato peeler or kitchen knife to them; cut into three sections first, remove seeds, and finely strip off skin.

Some modern schools of gazpacho dispense with breadcrumb thickening, arguing that we're not peasants who need to be filled up. Day-old French bread is a good choice if you do use crumbs.

For the same reason, you should go easy on the olive oil, however delicious it is. The more delicate, sweet oils for a gazpacho are Spanish (Del Magina and Nunez de Prado, from Harvey Nichols and good stores) or Provencal oils (which often include good Spanish oil: by mail order from The Oil Merchant 081-740 1335).

Croutons, cubes of bread fried in oil with garlic, can be provided as an extra garnish. Some people like them for texture, others detest them.

If you want to make a sensational gazpacho it's worth investing in some seriously good vinegar. In the smart modern restaurants in Spain they are using sherry vinegar (from Harvey Nichols and good stores, or The Oil Merchant, phone number above). But you might consider using a splash of balsamic vinegar, or one of the quality Italian vinegars.

GAZPACHO ANDALUZ

Here is the basic gazpacho recipe, which you can vary to your own taste.

Serves 4 to 6

2lb/900g ripe Italian plum tomatoes (or two jars passata or three cans best tomatoes), peeled and seeded

2 sweet green peppers, deseeded, chopped

1 cucumber, peeled and chopped

1/2 large mild Spanish onion

(or white of 6 to 10 spring onions)

1 (or 2) cloves garlic

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

8oz/225g white breadcrumbs

4-6 tablespoons best Spanish olive oil

1 3/4 pints/1 litre iced water

salt

To garnish

1 slice of day-old bread, toasted and finely cubed (or you can fry the cubes in oil with garlic if preferred).

pieces of skinned tomato, green pepper, cucumber and onion, finely chopped

Reserving the garnish, put all the other ingredients into a blender and mix till smooth. Strain through a sieve, in batches if need be, pressing out the liquid with the back of a serving spoon. Taste for seasoning, adding more vinegar, oil or salt as you think fit. Thin it with more cold water to suit your taste.

Put in the fridge to keep cold, covering it with clingfilm so that the smell of garlic and onion doesn't affect other foods. Serve cold, with the garnishes in separate little bowls.

AJO BLANCO CON UVAS

In Andalusia this delicate soup made with pounded almonds is an alternative to gazpacho. It is of Arab origin. This particular recipe - from El Fogon, in Santa Maria, heart of the sherry country, near Cadiz - is the best, says Marimar Torres, daughter of the Catalan winemaker, and comes from her book The Spanish Table (Ebury Press pounds 10.95).

Serves 6

4oz/100g freshly skinned almonds

12oz/350g white breadcrumbs

2 1/2 pints/1 1/2 litres water

3 cloves garlic

2 eggs

6-8 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1/4 pint/150ml sherry vinegar

salt

To garnish

three grapes (ideally muscat) per person or finely cubed pear, apple or melon

Put the peeled almonds in a bowl and cover with boiling water to soften for an hour. Soak the bread in the 2 1/2 pints/1 1/2 litres of water.

In a blender puree the almonds to a fine paste. Add the garlic and the eggs and blend well. Mix the oil and sherry vinegar in a jug, and pour in a thin stream on to the paste mixture in the blender with the motor running. Strain the bread in a sieve, squeezing out the moisture and reserving the water. Mix the wet bread into the puree, adding salt to taste.

Transfer to a non-metallic bowl and add the reserved water, using less or adding more to taste. Cover with clingfilm and chill for 2-3 hours before serving, poured over the grapes (and diced fruit) in chilled bowls. Keeps well for 2-3 days.-