I came home after South Carolina and Kyle headed to LA for work. We passed each other in the middle of the night as he returned and I left for China. But now we're both back. At the same time. In the same country! Hooray!
While I was home alone I had a gazpacho craving and realized that we've never blogged about gazpacho. Shameful. (Only because this is our online cookbook and I had to look elsewhere for my recipe if it wasn't here.) So I'm rectifying that.
Gazpacho is all about chopping (unless you have a food processor). It's a vegetable soup served cold and I think it's extremely wonderful and worth all the knife work.
My recipe calls for peeled tomatoes, which I used to do by hand with a paring knife, which is foolish. I wondered if the internets had a better idea this time and they did! Boil some water. Drop your tomato in for 20-30 seconds. Peeling done!!
It just slides right off! Brilliant.
So besides tomatoes, here's the pile of stuff to chop and mix.
2 large tomatoes, peeled and chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 cucumber, peeled and chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 scallions, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons lime juice
1.5 tablespoons lemon juice
1 liter tomato juice
1 teaspoon tarragon
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon honey
dash of hot pepper sauce
1/4 teaspoon cumin
salt and pepper
I chop everything finely (I don't have a food processor), but I like my gazpacho chunky. You can even blend it if you want and serve it smooth. Whatever you prefer. Once you've mixed everything together let it chill for at least 2 hours.
Perfect for summer with crusty warm bread.