Ajo Blanco Con Cerezas - Chilled Spanish White Garlic Soup

"This is one very chic chilled soup, having almonds as a main ingredient, and being served with fruit floating inside." From Lobstersquad.blogspot.com Posted for ZWT 5.

• Ready In: 30 mins
• Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

• 150  g  raw  almonds, without skins. (You can buy them ready ground)
•  garlic (one or two cloves. I suggest you start easy and add more as you go)
• 100  ml olive oil
• 2  tablespoons sherry wine vinegar
• 200  g  stale bread, crusts off
•  salt, to taste
•  cold water
•  grapes or   cubes granny smith apples or  melon or   stoned cherries, to serve

Directions

1. Soak the bread in water if it´s stale, and if not then don´t bother.
2. Throw the almonds into a food processor and grind them as finely as possible. Now add the garlic, bread (squeezed out if it was soaked), salt, olive oil and a bit of water and pulse til you have a paste.
3. Add iced water and pulse again, and then just add water until you have the consistency you like. (I think ajoblanco should be thin and drinkable, like gazpacho, but there is a school of thought that favours the spoonable, slightly thicker stuff.).
4. Add the vinegar, adjust the salt, and chill it thoroughly.
5. When it´s time to eat, check again for salt and vinegar, since the cold might have numbed their taste. Serve in soup bowls, scatter a few seeded grapes or stoned cherries, and leave the olive oil on the table for the drizzlers.