Everyday Gazpacho

Local tomatoes are making their appearance at the farmers’ markets. Ordinarily this would not be remarkable, but last year in the Northwest corner of Connecticut a blight wiped out the tomato crop and there was much fear that the culprit might lurk in the soil. But local farm stands are full of juicy red and yellow tomatoes, which means it is time for Gazpacho.

 My files include recipes for all kinds of special gazpachos: seafood, green, Mexican, or almost any other denomination. But my old standby is a recipe that always seems to please.  I call it “Everyday Gazpacho” because it does not require cooking, it uses ordinary seasonal ingredients, it takes only a few minutes to make, and it makes a quantity. Next time I will post a more exotic cooked tomato soup: Yellow Tomato Soup with Cilantro Relish.

Recently I tried a cold cucumber soup that seemed like a simple recipe: the few ingredients were combined in the blender, and then put through a strainer. The result was refreshing, but I would not recommend the recipe. Most recipes that ask you to put the results from your blender through a strainer have a problem. The strainer takes out so much pulp that the remaining liquid is just not worth the effort. We were left with two smallish cups of cold soup, which was just as well as it wasn’t a big hit with Mr. What’s For Lunch.

Gazpacho Ingredients

2 cups chopped tomatoes*

1 cup chopped red onion

1 cup chopped green pepper

1 cup chopped peeled and seeded cucumber

1 ½ tsp chopped garlic

1 ½ tsp kosher salt

¼ tsp cayenne pepper

1 Tbsp white wine vinegar

1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

3 cups V-8 juice

Directions

1. Using a food processor, chop each of the first four ingredients separately by turning the machine on and off so that each one becomes small pieces but retains some consistency (this is a very brief process). Use a non-reactive bowl and add each vegetable as it is finished.
2. Add remaining 6 ingredients
3. Stir, cover, and refrigerate

*In an ideal kitchen, the tomatoes would be peeled. This can be done by cutting an X in the bottom of each tomato and submerging it in boiling water for 10 seconds to loosen skin. Chill under cold water and skin should come off. This is not an operation I generally do.