Cold vegetable soup with cheese toast

Ingredients

• 2 slices white bread
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 cucumber
• 8 tomatoes
• 400 ml tomato juice
• 1 onion
• 1 Garlic clove
• 2 tbsp Lime juice
• 1 tsp paprika powder
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• Salt
• Cayenne pepper
• barley sugar
• ground pepper (from the mill)
• 150 g Gruyère cheese
• 1 baguette
• 2 tbsp freshly chopped parsley

Instructions

1. 1.

   Soak the white bread in 4-5 tablespoons of lukewarm water after removing crusts and crumble it.

2. 2.

   Wash, halve, and clean the bell pepper. Peel, split lengthwise, and deseed the cucumber. Blanch tomatoes briefly in boiling salted water, shock them in ice water, peel, quarter, and remove seeds. Pass seeds through a sieve, catch the juice, and add to tomato juice.

3. 3.

   Peel and finely dice onion and garlic. Dice bell pepper, cucumber, and tomatoes into small cubes. Reserve about 4 tablespoons for garnish; blend the rest with onion, garlic, tomato juice, crumbled bread, lime juice, paprika powder, and 2 tablespoons olive oil until smooth. If soup is too thick, add water or vegetable broth.

4. 4.

   Season with salt, cayenne pepper, barley sugar, and ground pepper. Chill for at least one hour.

5. 5.

   Slice Gruyère cheese thinly. Preheat oven to grill mode. Cut baguette diagonally into slices, top each with cheese, place on parchment-lined tray, and briefly gratinate under the preheated grill.

6. 6.

   Taste soup again, ladle into bowls, sprinkle with parsley and remaining vegetables, and serve alongside the cheese toast.