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Gazpacho with Grilled Seafood
© William Meppem

Gazpacho with Grilled Seafood

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  • ACTIVE:
  • TOTAL TIME:
  • SERVINGS: 6
  • •HEALTHY

The soup needs to be refrigerated overnight, so plan accordingly.

Plus: More Soup Recipes and Tips

  1. 1 pound cranberry beans, shelled (1 cup)
  2. Extra-virgin olive oil
  3. Salt and freshly ground pepper
  4. 5 cups tomato juice
  5. 1 large cucumber—peeled, halved, seeded and cut into 1/4-inch dice
  6. 1 yellow pepper, cut into 1/4-inch dice
  7. 1 medium sweet onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice
  8. 1 medium fennel bulb, cored and cut into 1/4-inch dice
  9. 1 large jalapeño, seeded and minced
  10. 1 large scallion, thinly sliced
  11. 1/4 cup coarsely chopped cilantro
  12. 1/2 teaspoon finely grated lime zest
  13. 1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
  14. 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
  15. 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  16. 3/4 pound sea scallops
  17. 3/4 pound medium shrimp, shelled and deveined
  18. 6 large slices peasant bread
  19. 1 large garlic clove
  1. In a medium saucepan, cook the cranberry beans in boiling water until tender, about 12 minutes. Drain and transfer to a plate. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
  2. In a large bowl, combine the tomato juice with the cucumber, yellow pepper, onion, fennel, jalapeño, scallion and 2 tablespoons of the cilantro. Add the beans, cover and refrigerate overnight.
  3. Stir the lime and lemon zest and juice into the soup. Season with salt and pepper and refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours.
  4. Light a grill. Thread the scallops and shrimp on skewers, brush with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill over a medium-hot fire until lightly charred, about 2 minutes per side. Generously brush the bread with olive oil and grill over a medium-hot fire until lightly charred, about 1 minute per side. Rub the bread with the garlic clove.
  5. Stir the remaining 2 tablespoons of cilantro into the soup. Serve the gazpacho with the seafood and bread.

Suggested Pairing

This gazpacho is almost more a chopped salad than a soup. Yet despite the cucumbers, fennel, scallions and cranberry beans, most of the flavor comes from tomato juice. And as any cook knows, tomatoes are quite acidic. This presents a challenge when looking for a wine to match: You'll need one with enough acidity to stand up to the soup. Look to Soave, from Italy's Veneto region, a white wine that is noted for its crispness—although some might (rightfully) observe that most Soaves have little else to offer. Happily, a few high–quality producers are turning out clean, crisp wines that are also filled out by soft, surprisingly concentrated fruit (which works nicely with the shrimp and scallop in the gazpacho).