It’s been a long hiatus and hopefully it’s over! This is where I left off. . . . We had a treasure trove of tomatoes in our garden, which was glorious and fun. Once again I experimented with gazpacho recipes, which are all sort of the same just different proportions of tomatoes to other ingredients – mostly nuanced differences. Below is what I came up with for last summer. A perfectly delicious cold soup on a hot summer day and it was hot this summer! We lived on this stuff.
Gazpacho
Ingredients:
2 cups cubed day-old bread (take off the crusts)*
4 pounds of tomatoes – the more delicious the tomatoes the more delicious the soup – obviously.
1 cup cucumber (peeled and seeded and chopped)
1 Tbsp minced red onion
1 bell pepper any color – optional (minced)
½ cup excellent olive oil
½ cup water
4 Tbsp champagne vinegar
¼ tsp cumin or more to taste
1 tsp salt
Soak the bread in water for a few minutes then drain the bread and squeeze it. Cut the tomatoes in half and core and seed them
Put the tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, bread, cumin and salt into a bowl and let it rest for a few minutes.
Now put about half (or less depending on the size of your blender) into your blender with ¼ cup of olive oil and blend until smooth. Pour into a big bowl. Do the same with the other half. Now whisk in the water and vinegar. Taste and add more salt or vinegar as necessary. Cover and refrigerate until chilled.
Serve in chilled bowls garnished with chopped cucumber, avocado, more minced onion, thinly sliced radishes, or croutons.
*NOTE: I have made gazpacho with and without the bread. Both are delicious. It’s a little more substantial with the bread but definitely not necessary and at times I was wanting (needing) fewer carbs so omitted the bread and it was still delicious.
