• FAMILY RECIPE: Gazpachos Manchegos.

Gazpachos Manchegos is a very common dish in La Mancha area, Spain. To prepare gazpachos the flat bread (called “torta de gazpacho“) is cut into small pieces and mixed with a quail-based stew (pigeon, hare or rabbit may be added or used instead) in order to prepare a warm dish. The stew is usually condimented with bay leaves, garlic and thyme. This type of gazpacho should not be confused with the Andalusian cold soup also called gazpacho. / Wikipedia.

  • GRANDPA: Paco.
    • Who taught you how to cook? Self-taught.
    • What is your favourite homemade food? Spaguetti with tomato sauce.

Spaghetti is a long, thin, solid, cylindrical pasta. It is a staple food of traditional Italian cuisine. A variety of pasta dishes are based on it, and it is frequently served with tomato sauce or meat or vegetables. / Wikipedia.


Follow Iris into her Grandpa Paco’s kitchen where she learns step by step the recipe of this delicious gazpachos Manchegos. Long live home cooking!

  • INGREDIENTS *vegan version: “Widower gazpachos manchegos”

Olive oil, to sauté
Water, to make gazpachos broth
Note by Grandpa Paco: Widower gazpachos manchegos is the name of the vegetarian / vegan recipe, that’s meant use different kind of veggies (spinach, potatoes, peppers, etc) instead of different kind of meats.
1 onion
2 ripe tomatoes
4 garlic cloves


400g of rabbit
400g of chicken
Snails, to taste (optional)
Note by Grandpa Paco: Also cook it with ¼ of pigeon.
A couple of bay leaves
Sweet paprika
Spices from the area: rosemary, thyme and clove
2 big tortas cenceñas (serves 4)


Note by Grandpa Paco: Tortas cenceñas is a kind of flatbread. You can use popular Mexican tortillas instead of tortas cenceñas. It’s easy to find Mexican tortillas almost everywhere. In this case, cut one whole Mexican tortilla in small pieces per person.


1. Cut all the different kind of meat in medium pieces, add salt to the meat pieces. Fry them in a big pan, paella pan style, with olive oil. Add garlic, snails and bay leaves. Mix it well for a while until brown the meat.
2. Pour water into the pan and cover the meat, two fingers above. Boil half an hour until the meat is cooked. Switch off the heat and let there for a while. Take out the pieces of meat and keep the meat stock in a big bowl.
3. Grate the tomatoes. Chop the onion. Wash and chop the mushrooms. Fry everything in a big pan. Add salt, paprika and species from the area.
4. Cut one torta with your hands into small pieces.


5. Add the small pieces into the pan.


6. Mix and fry them well with the veggies for a while.


Note by Grandpa Paco: Keep one whole torta to serve with the gazpachos at the end. You can buy the torta already into small pieces in La Mancha grocery stores.
7. Add the meat stock and boil it around 10 minutes, stir occasionally to prevent sticking.


Notes by Grandpa Paco: It should be moist and not soggy. That’s the idea.

8. A couple of minutes before evaporate the stock, add the pieces of meat and mix well once. Then the gazpachos are ready to serve.
9. Serve the gazpachos on a torta in the middle of the table or serve them in plates with a piece of torta per person.
Note by Grandpa Paco: Traditionally the gazpachos have served with a torta in the middle of the table. No cutlery, people used cut the pieces of torta and eat the gazpachos with the hand.



torta de gazpacho, also known as torta de Pastor, /Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia/ is a flat and round bread made with wheat flour without yeast. Along with the gachas, the tortas de gazpacho are a very ancient Iberian staple food preparation. Traditionally Manchega women used to bake their own tortas at home, but now a commercial type of torta de gazpacho is produced in La Roda under the name “torta cenceña“.

  • Gazpachos Manchegos. This dish originated in the hearty food shepherds needed when they came back home on cold winter nights. It is traditional to serve this dish by placing the pan or large plate in the middle and all the guests sitting around eating from it. Sometimes instead of the plate the gazpacho is poured on a very large flat bread
  • Traditionally the vegetarian gazpachos were considered inferior fare, only to be eaten in difficult times or by the poor people. Therefore, they were known as gazpachos viudos (literally “widowed gazpachos”); the reference to a widower originating in the fact that an essential ingredient was missing. Presently spinach may be used instead of the bladder campion leaves,

