Monday, June 15th Recipe

Now that the temperatures have reached the mid to upper 90's here in Texas, the race is on to find refreshing dining options. Nobody wants to sit down to a steaming hot bowl of soup. A chilled soup though is an invigorating alternative! Gazpacho is a cold Spanish tomato based raw vegetable soup, originating in the southern region of Andalucía. Traditionally, gazpacho has bread as one of its ingredients. My recipe wanders off the path a little bit from the traditional recipes and omits the bread.

GAZPACHO

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

10 Roma tomatoes, cored and chopped

1 red bell pepper, cored seeded and chopped

1 English cucumber, peeled seeded and chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped

½ cup fresh parsley leaves, rough chopped

1 tablespoon tomato paste

2 cups tomato juice

½ cup water

¼ cup sherry wine vinegar

1 cup extra virgin olive oil

3 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon sweet paprika

Salt, as needed

Black pepper, as needed

Garnish

¼ cup red bell pepper, cored seeded and small diced

¼ cup yellow bell pepper, cored seeded and small diced

¼ cup red onion, small diced

¼ cup cucumber, peeled and seeded, small diced

½ cup, red and yellow tear drop tomatoes, halved

2 avocados, small diced

1 cup, fresh cilantro leaves, minced

¼ cup fresh lime juice

Salt and pepper, as needed

In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients for the soup. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour. In another bowl, combine all the ingredients for the garnish. Season to taste and cover and refrigerate until needed. Remove the bowl with the soup ingredients and place in a food processor. Season with salt and pepper and pulse until you have a good mixture, you want to leave some texture. Ladle into chilled soup bowls, and spoon a generous amount of garnish into the middle of each bowl.

For a twist, you can serve this in shot glasses as gazpacho shooters! Makes a nice hors d'oeuvre or appetizer.