The ultimate summer soup. It originated as real peasants' fare; three day old bread mashed up with olive oil, garlic and ripe tomatoes. These days it is more often made with seasoned tomato juice. You can see why Phillip II of Spain invented the inquisition.

Ingredients - serves 6

1kg ripe tomatoes, skinned & chopped
1/2 a very mild Spanish onion, chopped
1/2 a cucumber, skinned & chopped,
1 each, red and green pepper, seeded & chopped
2 slices of stale white bread, crusts removed, crumbled
5 tbsp of strong olive oil
4 tbsp of red wine vinegar
1 ltr of cold water
2 cloves garlic, crushed

Method

Finely dice an eighth of the peppers and cucumber for garnish.

Blend the oil and bread add everything else and blend again to smooth. Add more water if necessary and check the seasoning (although some recipes suggest no water at all and to add a couple of ice cubes if you want a thinner, lighter soup). Sometimes a little sugar is good.