Cucumber impregnated in ‘gazpacho' water, frozen drops of goats' cheese and requienii mint, by Andoni Luis Aduriz

Ingredients
(Serves eight)

For the gazpacho 100g onion
10g garlic
500g cucumber
80g green bell pepper
700g tomatoes
1.5 litres mineral water
15g salt

For the cucumber 1kg cucumber
20g salt

For the cheese droplets 200g lactic acid fermentation creamy goats' cheese, liquefied
Baby bottle

For the mint garnish 40 Corsican mint leaves (mentha requienii)

Method
To prepare the gazpacho, peel the onions, garlic and cucumber. Remove the stalks from the bell pepper and tomatoes. Cut all the vegetables into medium-sized pieces and put them in a container with the mineral water and salt. Leave to macerate for 4-5 hours, then process the vegetables in batches in a blender.

Pass the purée through paper filters or a very fine mesh sieve. Collect the liquid that has filtered under the weight of the purée without applying any pressure. Store in the fridge until ready to serve.

Slice the cucumber into 4cm cylinders. Peel them vertically with a pointed knife, ensuring there are no uneven edges. Place the cucumber in a container and sprinkle it with salt. Let it sweat for 10 minutes, rinse with water and leave to dry.

Pour the gazpacho into a vacuum-sealed cooker and add the cucumber cylinders. Open and close the airflow of the pot to create impregnation of the cucumber. As the cucumber is immersed in the gazpacho, whenever it needs to replace air removed by the vacuum, it will absorb the gazpacho, fully soaking it up. If you do not have this type of pot, put the cucumber into an airtight bag with the gazpacho and try to remove as much air as possible from the interior.

Leave the cucumbers to macerate and absorb the liquid for one day. Once the impregnation has occurred, set aside half the well-filtered, cold liquid and keep the cucumbers immersed in the other half until ready to serve.

To prepare the cheese droplets, put the cheese into a baby's bottle and let a few drops fall into a container filled with liquid nitrogen so that they acquire the shape of a teardrop. Sieve and store the drops in the freezer at -18°C.

For the garnish, cut the tiny mint leaves carefully and rinse them in cold water with food disinfectant. Run them under cold water and keep them between damp paper towels in the refrigerator.

To serve, place a piece of the cucumber on each cold plate and add a few cheese teardrops on top. Scatter a few mint leaves and finish off by serving a little of the very cold gazpacho consommé around the cucumber.