Any time Tomato Gazpacho 2

I don't want to repeat a lot of recipes on my site, but I do love gazpacho. When Cooks Illustrated offered one I had to try it. I made it one Saturday and left it to the fridge over night. The next day I took it to Stern Grove for the Natalie MacMaster show. (GREAT show.) While I think the other fresh tomato recipe is better, this one got such rave reviews I had to put it out too. (Thanks for the compliments Sarah!)

A few things to note. Good tomatoes are key. If they're all green and hard it won't be as good - duh. However, this recipe can get by with less perfect tomatoes. That's because it gets a boost from good tomato juice. Cooks had a whole discussion and thought Welch's was the top dog. My store didn't have it so I used Campbell's and the people loved it. Lastly, the key to a great presentation is having all the vegetables diced to about the same size. You don't want the tomatoes to be big and the cucumbers tiny. I amped up the garlic, because I'm a garlic hound.

Serves: 8
Time: 1 hour working plus an 4 hour rest.

Shopping list at the bottom of the page.

More super recipes!

A. good red tomatoes 1.5 pounds  
red bell peppers 1 pound  
cucumbers 2  
garlic 4 cloves  
white onion 0.5 medium A whole onion is too much.
red wine vinegar 0.3 cup  
balsamic wine vinegar 2 tablespoons  
salt 0.25 teaspoon  
fresh ground black pepper 0.25 teaspoon  

Cut tomatoes in half and remove the seeds. Save the seeds and juice in a bowl. Then pass it through a strainer to remove the seeds. Keep the juice.

Peel the cucumber and remove seeds.

Remove the seeds and stem from the pepper.

Peel the onion.

Now divide these ingredients in half.

  • Rough chop half the ingredients.
  • Finely dice the other half. To make the dish shine, these cuts should all be uniform and about 1/4 inch.

Mince the garlic very finely.

Combine rough chopped tomatoes, bell pepper, cucumber, onion, garlic, salt, pepper, and vinegars.

Let stand for 5 minutes.

B. tomato juice 5 cups I used Campbell's, Cooks recommends Welch's
  Tabasco sauce 1 teaspoon  
Habanero sauce 1/8 teaspoon Optional
Chipotle Powder 1 teaspoon  

Mix in tomato juice (and the strained juice from the previous step) and hot sauces (careful with that Habanero sauce, a little goes a looooong way).

Cover tightly and store in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.
C. extra virgin olive oil 0.25 cup  

When ready to serve, use a handheld stick blender to purée the soup.

Spoon a serving of the finely chopped vegetables into bowls. Then ladle the pureed soup over the top. You want to see a little island of nicely chopped vegetables peaking out of a pool of puree.

Drizzle a little olive oil in each bowl.

Or just mix it all together and put it into a thermos bottle for your picnic.

 

Shopping list
red bell peppers 1 pound  
cucumbers 2  
garlic 4 cloves  
white onion 0.5 medium  
red wine vinegar 0.3 cup  
balsamic wine vinegar 2 tablespoons  
salt 0.25 teaspoon  
fresh ground black pepper 0.25 teaspoon  
  Tabasco sauce 1 teaspoon  
Habanero sauce 1/8 teaspoon Optional
Chipotle Powder 1 teaspoon  
Tomato Juice 5 cups Welch's or Campbell's
Tomatoes 1.5 pounds The best you can find
extra virgin olive oil 0.25 cup