My Favourite Gazpacho Soup - cooking recipe

Ingredients

2 large tomatoes
1 large green bell pepper
1 garlic clove
1/2 cup mixed herbs (i used chives, parsley, dill, basil, thyme, tarragon)
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 lemon, juice of
3 cups beef stock or 3 cups consomme
1 sweet onions or 1 Spanish onion, chopped
1 cucumber (English-style is best)
1/2 - 1 teaspoon paprika
additional parsley, as garnish (optional)
croutons or breadcrumbs, as garnish

Preparation

Quarter tomatoes and place in a blender or food processor.
Add chopped green pepper, coarsely chopped herbs, and pressed garlic.
Blend till smooth or a consistency you prefer.
Place in a serving bowl.
Gradually add 1/2 cup olive oil, the juice of 1 lemon, and 3 cups of chilled beef stock to the tomato mixture while stirring.
Substitute vegetable stock for a vegetarian version.
Blend the onion and 1/2 of the cucumber and add to the tomato mixture.
Add the paprika and grate the remaining cucumber into the soup. Add salt if you like or allow people to add salt at the table.
Place 2 ice cubes in each bowl and garnish with parsley.
Enjoy.
I like to serve this with a nice foccacia bread on the side, but it needs nothing else.