Monday, July 16, 2012

Summertime Soup - Gazpacho

Gazpacho is a must for a hot summer day. It's refreshing and cooling, and incredibly easy to make.  I like to make a batch of it to keep in the fridge to have for a light dinner, or even to bring to work for a midday snack.   The food processor does all the work for you. I puree the veggies in groups to get the right consistency and then mix everything together.  To help the food processor along I dice all the veggies into a large dice so they get chopped up evenly.  These are the veggies that I used this time, but you can play around with it and use whatever looks good. To make this for company top each bowl with a few roasted shrimp and drizzle with a good quality extra virgin olive oil. I like my gazpacho a little chunky, but pulse the veggies as much or as little as you like.

Summertime Gazpacho
2 1/2 pounds roma tomatoes, diced
2 large cucumbers, peeled, seeded and diced
1 jalapeno, seeds removed and diced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 handful of cilantro, stems removed
1 handful of bail leaves
1 -2 tbsp salt, to taste
2 tsps pepper
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 lemon, juiced
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Directions: 
Put the tomatoes in the food processor and pulse until finely chopped/pureed. Put in a large bowl.  Put the cucumbers in the food processor - pulse until desired consistency.  Add to the tomatoes.  Put the jalapeño, garlic, cilantro and basil in the food processor at the same time - puree until finely chopped.  Place in the same bowl.  Mix all the veggies together - add the salt, pepper, red wine vinegar, lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil. Allow the gazpacho to sit and let the flavors meld together for a few hours. After the gazpacho sits for a while taste and add more salt/pepper as necessary.




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