Today we are making gazpacho at our house! Sometimes I feel like the luckiest girl. My neighbor Kelly owns a produce company and generously shares said produce with us neighbors. Many mornings, we are surprised by a sweet child knocking at the door with a fresh produce delivery. Today I came back from a morning run to find these gorgeous tomatoes on my doorstep. Wow!!
Just look at those tomatoes!
I started pulling together items in my fridge I thought would go well in gazpacho-tomatoes, onion, garlic, lime, tomatillo, green pepper, cucumber. Although I have ginger in this photo, I decided not to use it for fear of ruining it for my husband who kind of hates ginger if it’s detectable in a recipe. I do think ginger might add an interesting kick though, so if you try it, let me know!
Though the classic Spanish version of gazpacho is perfect, the awesome thing about a recipe like this is that you can really do all kinds of variations depending on what’s in your kitchen. You can also play around with the amounts of different ingredients to suit your tastes.
So in the middle of combining all the produce, I decided to taste one of these gorgeous tomatoes. It was so good that I literally stopped, salt and peppered, and then ate this entire small tomato. That reminded me of one of cooking’s greatest lessons, that the quality of your ingredients is one of the most important determinants of a delicious outcome. I have Kelly to thank for this deliciousness!! Yumm.
Back to the gazpacho making….this is so simple! Everything just goes straight in a blender. In addition to the above mentioned ingredients, I also added, a few chives, parsley, basil, red wine vinegar, a jalapeno, cumin, salt, pepper and olive oil. Lastly, I used 2 slices of whole wheat bread without the crust to just add a little thickness.
On first taste, this was delicious, but I decided to throw in some cherry tomatoes from the fridge that I had too many of, and more parsley. The beauty of this is that you can taste and adjust to get to just where you want it.
When it was done, it was amazing but I thought it was just a tad acidic and oniony. I personally love those flavors, but wanted to balance them a bit with just a hint of sweetness. For that, I added a couple chunks of watermelon. Watermelon in these amounts doesn’t add any detectable watermelon taste to the gazpacho, but it does mellow out the intensity and gives it a nice balanced flavor. I suspect you could also use something like a sweet apple or grapes to add just a hint of sweetness if that’s what you have around the kitchen.
In the end, I served this in a bowl with a little chopped tomato and cucumber, pepper and a little drizzle of olive oil, with basil garnish. I just adore the enticing colors in this dish.
Do you have variations on gazpacho that you love? I’d love to hear about them! I hope you enjoy!
Gazpacho
Equipment
- Blender or Food Processor
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1 pound tomatoes
- 1/2 green pepper
- 1/2 persian cucumber
- 1 small jalapeno use less if spicy, remove seeds and ribs
- 1 tomatillo
- juice of 1 lime
- 1/4 onion
- 2 slices whole wheat bread, crusts removed
- 3 chives
- 1 bunch parsley
- 1 bunch basil
- 1 clove garlic
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 2 chunks watermelon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Strain if desired.
- Refrigerate for at least several hours before serving.
- Serve with chopped cucumber and tomato, basil and drizzled olive oil as garnish
Notes
- Consider trying other seasonings like paprika or ginger.