When you wake up in the morning in San Francisco and it’s already warm and the fog has burned off, you know it’s going to be a hot one. Gazpacho (or “gaspacho”) is a perfect recipe for cold tomato-based vegetable soup. It tastes better the more you let the pureed vegetable flavor blend together. I recommend at least an afternoon.
I always use my friend Chris’ recipe from many years back. I saw a similar gazpacho recipe posted on Allrecipes.com, submitted by Leia.
Thanks to Chris & Leia, here it is, with modifications listed:
INGREDIENTS
- 2 Roma (plum) tomatoes, quartered
- 1 large cucumber, peeled and halved
- 1 onion, peeled and halved
- 1 cup green bell pepper, diced
- 1 (4 ounce) jar diced pimento peppers, drained
- 2 (12 fluid ounce) cans tomato juice
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
- 1/4 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup croutons
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh chives
DIRECTIONS
1. In a blender combine one tomato, half the cucumber, half the onion, a green bell pepper quarter, the pimento and 1/2 cup tomato juice. Blend at high speed for 30 seconds to puree the vegetables.
2. In a large bowl mix the pureed vegetables with remaining tomato juice, 1/4 cup olive oil, vinegar, hot pepper sauce, salt and ground black pepper. Cover mixture and refrigerate until it is well chilled (about 2 hours).
3. Meanwhile saute the croutons in oil and add the garlic; transfer to a small bowl.
4. Place remaining chopped tomato, cucumber, onion and green bell pepper in separate bowls. Serve soup in chilled bowls, garnish with chives, and serve chopped vegetables and croutons as accompaniments.
MODIFICATIONS
- I skipped step (3) and just bought some parmesan-encrusted croutons.
- For one of the cans of tomato juice, I substituted a can of Spicy V8
- Instead of chives, I used about 1/2 cup of chopped green onions.
