Kid-friendly Gazpacho

In the dead of winter – I know!! But there’s method to my madness…

If you fancy the warming comfort of chicken soup when you have a cold, be my guest. But if you feel yourself coming down with a cold (big difference: your immune system is still in with a chance of fighting it) then you need to get a bit more serious.

Recently I did a piece with Dr Hilary Jones on Daybreak (I know! Get me!) explaining which foods we should go for to boost the immune system. Still high on the hit list is garlic, onions, chillies….

Likewise last week I tweeted about some incredible new research on the benefits of tomatoes (King of Lycopene!)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9051215/Cancer-slowed-by-co...

Extracted from the link above, here comes the science’y bit:

Lycopene is present in all red fruits and vegetables, but its concentrations are highest in tomatoes and it becomes more readily available and biologically active when it comes from processed tomatoes with a small amount of cooking oil added.

So ok – we’re talking tomatoes (preferably processed), but fresh is good too. Garlic…onions…chillies…a bit of oil….And there it is: we’ve pretty much descibed the sum parts of gazpacho. But how to create a kid friendly version of an adult-classic. Well, that’s what I’ve spent the last hour or so figuring out. And I think I’ve cracked it (my kids just hoovered this down as a ‘snack’…)

Besides the key ingredients, I’ve added a little maple syrup too, to bring out the sweetness of the tomatoes (maple syrup also has healing qualities – apparently) and rapeseed is my oil of choice (half the saturated fat of olive oil – yet all the healthy omegas – plus it’s supporting British – what’s not to love?)

If you make one ‘health food’ this year, let this be it. Not because it’s super easy and super quick (because it is) but because it really is medicinal. You’ll literally feel it working its way round your body. You can have the wine tomorrow...

INGREDIENTS
5 large-ish tomatoes – quartered (as ripe as possible)
1 red pepper, chopped
1 red onion, roughly chopped
2 fat garlic cloves, chopped
500g passata (by all means make your own – I did a Tesco’s dash)
250ml reduced salt vegetable stock (ditto)
Juice of half a lime
1 tsp Tabasco
2 tsp maple syrup
4 tbsp rapeseed (or olive) oil
Pinch of salt

METHOD
Place the first 4 ingredients in a food processor and whizz up until they’re finely chopped, though not completely smooth.

Transfer to a large bowl. Add the remaining ingredients, stir through, and leave to chill in the fridge (covered).

Serve in mugs for the kids to sip from.

NOTE: Feel free to add a few extra drops (go easy!) of Tabasco sauce to adult’s servings – for the full effect!