In Pedro Almodovar's zippy comedy, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988), a series of coincidences and high drama involving a jilted actress, a "Mambo Taxi," a lost shoe, live chickens, ducks and geese, a borrowed dress, a deranged ex-wife with a gun and a beehive hairdo, Shiite terrorists, a feminist lawyer, and a bossy virgin are whirled together until soothed and cooled by a pitcher of barbiturate-laced gazpacho.
The Celluloid Pantry: Spiked Gazpacho and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Spain, 1988)
Pepa (Carmen Maura, right) a voice-over actress, has just learned via answering machine that her ex-boyfriend Ivan (Fernando Gullen) is leaving on a trip with another woman and wants her to gather up his things for him in a suitcase. Pepa does as she's asked, but then decides to whip up a pitcher of Ivan's favorite dish, gazpacho, and fix it so he stays around the apartment a little longer than planned. So, along with the traditional ripe tomatoes, day-old bread, cucumber, green pepper, and seasonings, she adds a couple dozen sleeping pills.
Complications ensue as unexpected guests keep arriving. The pitcher gets pushed aside in the fridge until rediscovered by Marisa (Rossy de Palma), the fiance of Ivan's son, Carlos (played by an astonishingly geeky-looking Antonio Banderas, left). The chilled soup knocks Marisa out cold. Pepa is alarmed at first, but then realizes the dish has potential: as the police, the telephone repairman, Ivan's ex-wife, and a hysterical fashion model show up, everyone gets treated to a cup of soup and a nice, soothing siesta.
Often referred to as "liquid salad," gazpacho is a wonderfully refreshing dish in hot weather. Originating among rural workers in Andalusia, it was traditionally made with leftover bread pounded and softened in a bowl with water, olive oil, and whatever other ingredients happened to be on hand. Regional variations include almonds, lemon juice, egg whites, hot peppers and green beans, to name just a few.
The following recipe is adapted from Vincent and Mary Price's A Treasury of Great Recipes (1965) passed on to the Prices by the chef at the restaurant Sobrino de Bot'n (founded 1725) in Madrid:
Gazpacho Andaluz
(serves 4 to 6)
6 thin slices stale white bread
3 very ripe tomatoes, chopped
1 red or green pepper, chopped
1 cucumber, peeled and chopped
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons wine vinegar (sherry vinegar is especially good)
salt
ground cumin
Combine all ingredients in a food processor or blender and puree until smooth. Adjust seasonings to taste. [Add water or tomato juice to desired consistency.] Serve chilled.
Tell us about your favorite spin on gazpacho.
- Nora
Comments (11)
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Sweet! I was just craving gazpacho on the weekend. Do you think breadcrumbs could be substituted for the stale white bread?
view Michelle of Montreal's profile
Michelle of M, I've never tried using breadcrumbs, but I don't see why not (you'd probably want to be kind of sparing in the quantity though cause they're so dense).
Anyone else?
view nora's profile
I love this movie, and haven't watchd it in ages!!! Great choice.
view Sarah's profile
I love gazpacho -- but I can never pronounce the word without hearing it from this film -- brilliant!
view Mid-C Frank's profile
My gazpacho de Andalucia recipe uses a peeled cucumber, a medium red pepper, 3 pounds of tomatoes (peeled and seeeded if you want to go to the effort) a small onion, 2 garlic cloves, 1/3 cup of chopped parsley, 1/4 cup red wine vinegar, salt and pepper, and a couple glugs of olive oil. Oh, and some kind of spice, either tabasco sauce or a jalapeno pepper. Chop everything and put it in the blender. I don't use bread, I suppose it gives the soup a smoother consistency, but for me this isn't necessary. The red pepper gives the soup an even brighter red color than the tomatoes alone. And it's SO good for you, although you will have raw garlic breath!
view alexarc's profile
Mmm, I made this the other night because it was so hot out and over-garlic-ed myself a bit. Forgot about the fact that I was using raw garlic, silly me. Otherwise, I used a little less bread and it came out very flavorful with a really nice texture.
view Anne (in Reno)'s profile
The key to my family's gazpacho is to chop everything very finely and do absolutely no blending of any kind. It's all about the fresh texture.
view angorian's profile
I like to blend half pineapple (reserve a handful, finely diced, for texture), one or two celery stalks (ditto with the pineapple instructions), a red onion, lots of parsley, a couple of glugs of sherry vinegar and some hot peppers with my tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, salt and cucumber. It makes a gazpacho that's sweet, spicy, and vaguely tropical-tasting. It's not authentic by any means, but I make a batch every week in the summer for office lunches!
view ML73's profile
Oh man! I LOVE this movie - it's easily in my top five.
view Sarah G's profile
This is one of my favorite movies too! I have been searching for it on DVD for ages. For some reason you can't buy it new on DVD and used it goes for at least $60. Oh well, perhaps they will show it on T.V. this summer! Gazpacho and summer go hand in hand.
view Otter_Pop's profile
Otter_Pop,
The DVD's now available as part of a boxed set "Viva Pedro"
(I'd been looking for it for ages too and was soooo happy to finally find it). Doesn't look like it's available a la carte yet, but probably will be soon.
view nora's profile