Thursday, August 12, 2010

Gazpacho


With the tomatoes ripening like gangbusters, and the heat and humidity making us all miserable, I sought out a recipe for a nice, cool summer meal: gazpacho. Though it has many intraregional variations, it's basically a Mediterranian cold soup made of tomatoes and all manner of late summer garden bounty. While I was researching a bit of history on the dish, I was surprised that it traditionally has bread ground up and blended into the soup. I don't think I've ever had it that way and the recipe I tried didn't call for that ingredient. Glad I am, because Soppy Bread never sounds appealing to me. I much prefer the liquid salad idea that I know gazpacho to be.

Here's the recipe:

6 ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped
1 sweet pepper, seeded and chopped
2 stalks of celery, chopped
1-2 T chopped fresh parsley
2 T chopped fresh chives
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/4 c. red wine vinegar
1/4 c. olive oil
2 T freshly sqeezed lemon juice
2 T sugar
salt and pepper to taste
Tabasco to taste
1 t. Worchestershire sauce (omit for vegetarian)
4 c. tomato juice

Combine all ingredients, blend slightly to desired consistency. Place in non-metal, non-reactive storage contatiner. Cover and chill. Serve cold.

I realized that of all the produce in the recipe, I only DIDN'T have celery in my garden. In fact, I left it out of my soup altogether, since I don't enter the produce aisle in the summertime. It sure hit the spot for me.

4 comments:

  1. Hey! My wedding soup! I haven't had it yet this year but went to Mom and Dad's to pick tomotoes today.....

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  2. We should make some of that; we're drowning in tomatoes. My dad goes a little crazy with the tomato plants. We've got 50 plants just in the regular garden. we've got piles of them on the deck railing.

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  3. maybe I should try your recipe. I havn't liked gazpacho in the past, but I'm game to try.

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  4. Jon, you should make some gazpacho. I think your household would enjoy it. I know what you mean about the piles of ripening tomatoes.

    Margo, welcome home.

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