I'm sitting by the pool at my brother's house just outside Moraira, in southern Spain, soaking up the evening rays after a hectic few days in Bilboa, San Sebastian, Barcelona and Sitges. I'm with my oldest girlfriend, also a keen cook, and we're eagerly anticipating a supper of cooling gazpacho followed by chorizo and other meats from the barbecue.

Not for nothing is gazpacho known as the salad soup; it contains everything you might include in a salad, plus the bread you serve with it and the dressing to pour over it. It's a peasant soup, and all the better for being a bit rough around the edges. At this time of year, in this part of Spain, you can't go wrong with this lovely soup. There's fabulous garlic, obviously, that's juicy and sweet but with a hot tang. And big, craggy tomatoes, the sort we never seem to get in the UK, and those pointed, extra-sweet red peppers.

The onions, too, particularly the red ones, are sweet enough to eat like an apple and the eccentrically irregular cucumbers come with plenty of flavour. At home, when I make Andalusian red gazpacho, I take care with the choice of ingredients, but here it will be packed with flavour whatever the combination. I usually serve it with a full complement of add-ons, the little dishes of finely chopped soup bits and bobs which are piled in for crunch and vivacity.

At Moraira's Saturday market, I bought huge, plump grapes, more fresh garlic and flat, creamy Marcona almonds to make white gazpacho. Its success lies in the subtle balance of almond and garlic pounded with bread, olive oil and vinegar, with the welcome surprise of sweet, juicy grapes. It is a more beguiling cold soup than its more famous red relative and the even more modest ingredients belie its rich, creamy flavour and velvety texture. Both these lovely soups must be served thoroughly chilled and are the perfect precursors to barbecued fish.

Gazpacho with all the trimmings

Serves: 6-8

Prep: 30 min plus at least 4 hours, preferably 24, chilling

3 large new season garlic cloves

150g day-old white bread, preferably country-style

1 cucumber

1 red chilli

2 red peppers, preferably the pointed, “extra-sweet” type

1kg tomatoes, including a proportion of Jersey Jewel or other full-flavoured cherry tomatoes

1 large red onion

2 tbsp sherry or wine vinegar

About 20 small mint leaves

100ml extra virgin olive oil plus 2 tbsp extra

3 plum or vine tomatoes

1 lemon

Tabasco sauce

Method

Peel the garlic. Tear the bread into pieces. Place both in the bowl of a food processor and blitz to make fine breadcrumbs. Meanwhile, peel the cucumber. Halve it horizontally and use a teaspoon to scrape out the seeds. Chop half of it roughly. Trim and split the chilli. Scrape out the seeds. Set aside half a red pepper and chop the rest, discarding seeds and white filament. Peel and halve the onion. Coarsely chop one half and add to the breadcrumbs with the chopped cucumber, chilli and chopped red pepper. Remove the stalks from the 1kg tomatoes. Roughly chop regular tomatoes, leave cherry tomatoes whole. Add the tomatoes to the food processor bowl with the vinegar, 300ml ice-cold water, most of the mint, the 100ml olive oil, 1/2 tsp salt and a generous seasoning of black pepper. Blitz for several minutes until liquidised (you may need to do this in two batches). Meanwhile prepare the garnishes. Keeping separate piles, finely dice the remaining cucumber and red pepper and finely chop the remaining red onion. Quarter the plum or vine tomatoes, discard the seeds and finely chop. Taste the gazpacho and adjust the seasoning with salt, pepper, lemon juice and Tabasco. If you think the soup needs it - it makes it very creamy - whisk in the extra olive oil. Transfer to a serving bowl and chill until required, at least 4 hours.

White gazpacho

Serves: 4-6

Prep: 15 min plus at least 2 hours, preferably 24 hours, chilling

2 large new season garlic cloves

50g blanched almonds

2 tbsp sherry vinegar or white wine vinegar

5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

150g day-old white, crustless bread

200g seedless white grapes

Method

Peel the garlic. Place in a food processor with the almonds, 2 tbsp vinegar, 3 tbsp olive oil and half a tsp salt. Blitz furiously. Have ready 450ml ice-cold water. Tear the bread into pieces. Add some bread, then some water, and continue thus until you have created a thick, white purée. Taste and adjust the seasoning with vinegar, salt and olive oil. Pour into a bowl. If you can be bothered, peel the grapes. The most effective way to do this is in batches, dropping a handful of grapes into boiling water. Leave for 30 seconds, drain and then use a small knife to remove the skin from the stalk end. Halve the grapes lengthways. Stir them into the soup, cover with clingfilm and chill. Give the soup a final stir and splash with a little olive oil before serving.

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