With summer winding down, we all want to literally squeeze every last little bit of goodness from the garden. And because it’s still quite warm, nothing satisfies quite like a nice chilled gazpacho.
Some gazpacho recipes call for the ingredients to be run through a blender. This recipe calls for everything to be diced so that there are nice crunchy chunks to add some texture to the zing of this tomato-based soup.
You’ll need:
• About 2 pounds of tomatoes fresh from the garden
• 1 cup of low sodium tomato juice or a vegetable juice like V-8
• 1/4 cup chopped yellow bell pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped orange bell pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped red onion
• 1 whole cucumber
• 1 small jalapeño pepper
• 2 garlic cloves peeled and finely minced
• 1/4 cup olive oil (plain is fine but garlic infused is even yummier)
• juice of 1 lime
• Splash of balsamic vinegar
• Dash of cumin powder
• Dash of Tabasco sauce
• Kosher salt to taste
• A grind of fresh black pepper
• Diced avocado and sour cream for garnish.
Peel, seed and dice the tomatoes. This can be done easily by cutting an X on the bottom of the tomatoes. Drop them into the boiling water for about 15 seconds and then remove and throw them over into an ice bath. When they are cool enough to handle, they should peel easily. Strain the seeds in a sieve for extra juice.
Peel, seed, and dice the cucumber.
Seed and dice the jalapeño pepper (leaving the seeds will make it too spicy)
In a large bowl with a resealable lid, combine all of the ingredients. Cover and chill for several hours.
Serve cold, topped with diced avocado and a dollop of sour cream. Makes a great weekday lunch — just pack in a Thermos container, no need to heat.
**If you want to be extra fancy, you can also top with some fresh crab meat or with a boiled and peeled shrimp or two.