Continuing the Tomato Love

A little while ago I shared with you that I am not a fan of tomatoes in raw form. I then went on to disprove that by posting a bruschetta recipe. Well, it appears there is another way that I do like my raw tomatoes, and that is in the form of gazpacho. So, I’m a total liar and spewing “fake news” about my dislike of tomatoes.

I headed out to our local farmers market this past weekend to pick up a few items. I generally just need to supplement, since I belong to a CSA and get a good bit of produce midweek. I had some leftover mini heirlooms leftover, so I picked up a baguette, and I was convinced to buy some peaches and plums that were guaranteed to be messy cause they were so ripe. I was given a plum and a napkin to try and I was sold.

I then wandered over to Brad’s produce (whose CSA I belong to) and looked for some more inspiration. Boxes of really red. tomatoes were plentiful. I thought back to a great gazpacho recipe I have, so bought 4 and a cucumber and I had everything I needed for the soup.

I honestly don’t remember where I got this recipe from. It’s pretty old. It’s on a 3×5 card in between the pages of one of my Cooking Light cookbooks. I think I may have grabbed it off a table at a farm stand a while ago and it’s the one I use. What i love about this recipe is that it calls for minimal ingredients and fairly minimal prep. Some recipes call for peeling the skins off the tomatoes, adding a bunch of seasonings, adding tomato juice…etc.

you don’t need to do a lot of prep, but you do need a food processor for the best consistency. You don’t want it blended to a liquid, you want some texture.

Quarter your tomatoes (no need to peel or take the seeds out), but do peel and take the seeds out of a medium/large cucumber.

Add a few cloves of garlic to your food processor and whirl them around until they are minced.

Chop the cucumber in chunks and add them and the tomatoes to the food processor.

Add your olive oil (the best you have) and good white balsamic vinegar. I use Dimitri products which I pick up at my farmers market. Add a good amount of salt to taste.

Pulse everything in the food processor until all the large chunks are gone, it’s somewhat smooth but definitely has some texture.

Add some more salt to taste, and transfer to bowl to let all the ingredients mingle for a while. Gazpacho is actually better the longer it sits. Such a great, healthy summer soup. Forgive me about lying about my hate of tomatoes. It’s clearly not true.

Gazpacho

• 4 medium/large ripe tomatoes (quartered)
• 1 medium/large cucumber (peeled and seeded)
• 3-4 cloves of garlic
• 4 tablespoons of really good olive oil
• 2-3 tablespoons of really good white balsamic vinegar
• Salt to taste

Toss garlic into food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Add everything else and pulse several times until coarsely puréed. Taste and correct for seasoning; I suggest starting with the smaller amount of vinegar and adding more if needed-the amount depends heavily on the acidity of the tomatoes. Let chill in the fridge for at least an hour, more is better.