Summer Soup {Gazpacho}

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again and again: in our house, Alton Brown is a culinary genius.  When Jeromy and I wanted to make gazpacho, we knew exactly who to turn to, and Mr. Brown did not disappoint.

During the heat wave in DC last week, the only thing I wanted to eat was food that did not need to be cooked and I really wanted gazpacho.  I held off on making it though, hoping to go to the farmer’s market on Saturday morning for the tomatoes.  Unfortunately, Saturday morning got away from us and we didn’t make it to the market {I had a very important event to attend}. Even so, gazpacho was stuck in my head and I really needed to make it.  I used tomatoes from Trader Joe’s but if they’re available to you, I would highly recommend using farm fresh tomatoes or even ones from your own garden!

I have a hard time altering Alton’s recipes.  The man really knows what he’s doing.  The only thing I did here was double  the recipe so we’d have enough to take for lunches and maybe have some extra for the freezer.  If you want the original measurements, check out the recipe!

Ingredients

• 3 pounds tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
• 1 can {approximately 1 3/4 cups}  tomato juice
• 2 cup cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped
• 1 cup red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 cup red onion, chopped
• 1 large jalapeno, seeded and minced
• 2 medium garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 limes, juiced
• 4 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
• 4 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons fresh basil leaves, chiffonade

Method:

First, bring a pot of water to a boil.  When it’s approaching a boil, prepare an ice bath.  Then, cut an x in the bottom of each of our tomatoes.

It’s easiest to have all of the tomatoes prepped, the pot of water and the ice bath close to each other, because you’re going to be working fast.

Add the tomatoes to the boiling water for 15-20 seconds

Then immediately put them in the ice bath.

Once the tomatoes are cool enough to handle, peel the skin off.  Have another bowl available with a fine mesh sieve set over it.  After the skin is removed, core and seed the tomato, being sure to put the seeds and pulp in the sieve.  Squeeze all of the seeds and pulp through the sieve to get as much juice as possible.  Supplement the juice with a can of tomato juice {or however much is needed to get to 2 cups}. Chop the tomatoes and place them in a bowl with the tomato juice.

Next, add the rest of the ingredients to the bowl.  Stir well to combine.

 

Transfer 3 cups to a blender.

Puree for 15-20 seconds.

Pour the pureed vegetables back into the bowl with the remaining chopped vegetables.

Stir well to combine.

Cover and place in the refrigerator for 2 hours and up to overnight. Serve with chiffonade basil garnish.

The color of the soup will deepen overnight to a gorgeous red. The flavors of this soup are so refreshing, especially since it is served cold. As written, this recipe can easily be altered to be vegetarian or vegan, just substitute the Worcestershire sauce for a vegan version {thanks, Pam!}.  For those omnivores out there, I think this would be delicious served with chilled shrimp or at the very least, grilled baguette.

The Worcestershire sauce, balsamic vinegar and jalapeno pepper give this gazpacho an extra kick that is not ordinarily found in gazpacho.

I honestly cannot wait for lunch.

Pass me a spoon.

Recipe courtesy of Alton Brown.

Tagged as: dairy-free, lunch, meatless meals, soup, summer, tomatoes