Gazpachos from La Mancha or Galianos

How to make gazpacho manchego . When we talk about gazpacho and unless we are from La Mancha, the wonderful cold soup typical of Andalusia will come to mind , where different vegetables are mixed with oil, vinegar and bread.

The fact is that in Spain there are other gazpachos that have nothing to do with the Andalusian. This is the case of today’s recipe, Gazpachos from La Mancha or Galianos.

To start talking about this old dish typical of the La Mancha community, I want to emphasize the name, gazpachos, in the plural. There is a quote that says: the Andalusian does not admit plural nor the singular La Mancha .

In Don Quixote, which refers to this dish, gazpachos are mentioned like this, in the plural, and it is traditional to treat them this way.

The gazpacho manchego or galianos are a peasant dish. Game meats, hares, partridges, rabbit or chicken were used, which were cooked with products from the garden. As a great curiosity of this dish is that they are accompanied by toasted cenceñas, an unleavened bread that has a leading role in this recipe.

Originally, La Mancha gazpachos were served using these toasts as dishes and, as a spoon, pieces of the toast. Nowadays we can find Manchego gazpachos in a casserole but they are still eaten with the toast as a topping or add the cenceño toasts at the end of the stew to absorb part of their sauce.

Although in the autonomous community of Castilla la Mancha, they are found in all supermarkets, in most of the rest of Spain it is impossible to find this bread.

That is why I leave you a recipe for Gazpachos from La Mancha including the preparation of these toasted Cenceñas so that you can prepare this wonderful meat stew as canons command.

Nothing prevents us from preparing at home a traditional meat stew such as the Manchego gazpachos. A whole dish to lick your fingers, hearty and very tasty, of yummy.

Preparation of the cenceñas toasts

1. If you are one of those who cannot buy the traditional cenceño toasts that this dish carries, because you are not in Castilla, here is the recipe. We mix the ingredients of the toasts, the flour, the hot water, and the salt.
2. First with a fork and then with your hands, knead until you get a homogeneous, smooth and workable ball.
3. We divide the dough into 2 portions and stretch each of them with a rolling pin on a work surface until reaching a thickness of about 2 mm. With the oven very hot, at 250ºC, we bake the toasts for about 5 minutes.
4. We must be pending at all times since they are ready in a short time and it is easy to burn us.
5. We remove the toasts from the oven and reserve until they are added to the casserole.

Preparation of the Manchego gazpacho

1. We ask our butcher to cut the meat, both the chicken and the rabbit. At home we can remove the skins and some remaining fat that is visible.
2. In a large saucepan, brown the meat with a drizzle of olive oil. We seal it well on all sides and cover it with water. Add 4 cloves of garlic, grams of pepper, bay leaf and salt.
3. If we use the express pot, we will let it cook for about 30 minutes from the moment the valve starts working. If we opt for the traditional method, we cook the meat for 1 hour and a quarter. The meat must be super tender.
4. Once the meat is cooked, we reserve the broth by straining it. We mince the meat removing bones, skins and fat. We reserve.
5. In a saucepan, fry the onion, garlic clove and red pepper cut into small cubes. This process will take us about 15 or 20 minutes. We add the clean and cut mushrooms and continue cooking the vegetables for 7 or 8 more minutes.
6. Add the peeled and chopped tomato and cook for 10 minutes more over medium heat. We add the minced meat that we have reserved, cover with the broth and taste the point of salt adding its necessary.
7. Let it cook for a few minutes until the sauce has reduced and add the crumbled custard toasts into bite-size squares. We continue cooking 10 more minutes and serve.

This traditional Castilian dish can be served as it is or on a toast as a base for dishes. It is a delicious stew to enjoy at any time of the year.

If you do not want to miss a detail on how to prepare this Manchego gazpacho recipe , click on the photos in the step by step.