Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Gazpacho

This is my husband's all-time favorite recipe that I make. There's nothing like a fresh garden-flavor, cold soup on a HOT (we're talking 106 people) day.

Ingredients


Roughly chop the veggies into 1-inch cubes.


Put each veggie separately into a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse until it is coarsely chopped. Do not over process since you want to see each veggie in the soup...we're not shooting for pureed baby food here.


After each veggie is processed, combine them in a large bowl. Seriously, you could eat this as a delicious veggie-filled salsa at this point, I would add lots of chopped jalapeno, a few tablespoons of lemon juice and some salt and pepper...but I think we'll continue on with the gazpacho.


Add the garlic, tomato juice, vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper. Mix well and chill before serving. Although I actually like it room temperature.


MMMM....I topped mine with cubes of avocado and I also like to put a few dashes of Tabasco in mine to give it a kick (although fresh jalapeno would be better in my opinion). Ooh...I would have loved some chopped cilantro as well!


Gazpacho
(from The Barefoot Contessa by Ina Garten)

Ingredients:
2 hothouse cucumbers, halved and seeded, but not peeled
3 red bell peppers, cored and seeded
8 plum tomatoes
2 red onions
6 garlic cloves, minced
6 cups tomato juice (NOT tomato cocktail!)
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

Roughly chop the veggies into 1 inch cubes. Put each veggie separately into a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse until it is coarsely chopped. Do not over process!

After each veggie is processed, combine them in a large bowl and add the garlic, tomato juice, vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper. Mix well and chill before serving. The longer the gazpacho sits, the more flavors will develop.
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PS: This makes A LOT of soup. Serves 8 to 10.

PSS: Want a super fancy looking and delicious appetizer for a crowd? Buy extra hothouse cucumbers, peel them, cut them into 2 inch sections. Core the cukes (but don't go through both ends!) then fill with the gazpacho. Top with a parsley leaf, a few sprigs of chives, or a cilantro leaf! It makes little individual soup bowls that can be sipped and then the cuke bowl can be eaten!

PSSS: Want another fun way to serve the gazpacho as a first coarse to a summer meal or alone as a light dinner? Just cut the tops off of bell peppers then seed them. Fill with the soup and maybe top with a dollop of sour cream and a few sprigs of cilantro! I think getting a variety of bell peppers would look beautiful together. Oh and this would be GREAT for a baby shower or wedding shower!!

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Whew! I'm worn out with all that typing. Now get out of your seat and go make some soup!

1 comment:

Live.Love.Eat said...

Mmmmm.....Gazpacho is soooo on my list of things to make. I will cut this down since I a probably the only one to eat it in the house, but then again there is always family and friends to bring some to. I do like Ina!!!