Torta de gazpacho facts for kids
Gazpacho de Requena
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| Alternative names | Torta gazpachera, gaspacho oranais |
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| Type | Torta or flatbread |
| Place of origin | Spain |
| Main ingredients | Wheat flour |
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The Torta de gazpacho is a special kind of torta, which is a flat bread. People use it to make a warm dish called gazpacho. This dish is very popular in La Mancha and Southeast Spain. You can find it in places like Murcia and parts of the Valencian Community.
A torta de gazpacho is also known as torta de Pastor. It is a flat, round bread made from wheat flour. It does not use yeast. For a very long time, these tortas have been an important food in the Iberian Peninsula. In the past, women in La Mancha often baked their own tortas at home. Today, you can buy a type of torta de gazpacho called "torta cenceña" from La Roda.
To make the warm gazpachos dish, the flat bread is torn or cut into small pieces. These pieces are then mixed with a somewhat liquid stew. This dish was first made for shepherds. It gave them a hearty meal when they came home on cold winter nights. It is a tradition to serve this dish by putting a large pan or plate in the middle of the table. Everyone sits around it and eats directly from the shared dish. Sometimes, the gazpacho is poured onto a very large flat bread instead of a plate.
It is important not to mix up this warm gazpacho dish with the cold soup. There is a cold soup also called gazpacho that comes from Andalusia. They are very different!
Contents
Types of Gazpacho Dishes
Gazpacho in Castile-La Mancha
- The gazpachos manchegos are perhaps the most famous. For this dish, the torta de gazpacho is cut into pieces. These pieces are mixed with a stew often made from quail. Sometimes, people add pigeon, hare, or rabbit to the stew. This dish is very common in the La Mancha area. The stew usually has bay leaves, garlic, and thyme for flavor.
- The gazpachos jumillanos are similar to the Manchego type. However, they also include land snails in the stew. This version is typical in the areas of Jumilla and Elche.
- The gazpacho de Yecla is also called "gazpacho con chaleco." For this dish, sardines are roasted or braised. Then, they are wrapped in tortas de gazpacho. This is a special food from the Yecla area.
Gazpacho in Valencia
- In the Valencian area, there are different gazpachos. The gazpacho de Requena is just like the gazpacho manchego. But the tortas are cut into very tiny pieces. The stew is almost always made only with quail. In Ayora (Vall de Cofrents), the stew is made with rabbit. This version is known as gazpacho de monte. In Castalla, Onil, and Ibi (L'Alcoià), local mushrooms are added to the stew.
- The gazpacho de mero is a version made with fish. The pieces of torta are first boiled in fish broth. The best fish for this dish is the grouper. It can also have peeled prawns. This fish gazpacho is very popular in the Alacantí and Baix Vinalopó regions.
Gazpacho in Other Places
- People who moved from southeast Spain brought this dish to northwestern Algeria. There, it became a dish in Algerian cuisine called gaspacho oranais. It is named after the city of Oran. This dish is still popular in Oran and other coastal cities like Mostaganem. The way this dish is made and served is also similar to another Algerian dish called chakhchoukha.
Vegetarian Gazpachos
There are also ways to make torta de gazpacho dishes without meat. A long time ago, when meat or game was hard to find, people made gazpachos with vegetable stews. The main ingredients for these stews were seasonal vegetables. These included zucchini, bell pepper, and eggplant. This was especially true in the Region of Murcia. In La Mancha, which was less fertile, people used bladder campion (Silene vulgaris) leaves instead of meat for the stew.
In the past, these vegetarian gazpachos were thought of as less important food. People ate them only during hard times or if they were poor. Because of this, they were called gazpachos viudos (widowed gazpachos). The name "widowed" meant that an important ingredient, like meat, was missing. Today, spinach can be used instead of bladder campion leaves.
See also
In Spanish: Torta de gazpacho para niños
