Summer is for Gazpacho

Today I am hosting a luncheon for six chez moi.  I don’t know the people, but they were the winners of the lunch in a silent auction.  At least, I hope they still consider themselves winners after they have eaten.  I am serving gazpacho, blueberry scones, goat cheese tart with a side salad, and orange pound cake topped with whipped cream.

 

Gazpacho is a great summer soup to serve.  The ingredients are readily available at the farmers’ market, and it can be made the day before.

 

I looked at several recipes on line but ended up using The Barefoot Contessa’s recipe.  I like that she adds olive oil, although I only added a few teaspoons – not the quarter cup she uses. (The goat cheese tart and orange pound cake are her recipes, too).

 

GAZPACHO

• 1 cucumber, halved and seeded, but not peeled

• 2 red bell peppers, cored and seeded

• 4 plum tomatoes

• 1 red onion

• 3 garlic cloves, minced

• 23 ounces tomato juice (I used canned diced tomatoes instead)

• 1/4 cup white wine vinegar

• 1/4 cup good olive oil

• 1/2 tablespoon kosher salt

• 1 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

Directions

 – Roughly chop the cucumbers, bell peppers, tomatoes, and red onions into 1-inch cubes. Put each vegetable separately into a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse until it is coarsely chopped. Do not overprocess.

 – After each vegetable is processed, combine them in a large bowl and add the garlic, tomato juice, vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Mix well and chill before serving. The longer gazpacho sits, the more the flavors develop.

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Take care and have a great week-end.  I will be at Jordan’s next week, and we have lots of projects planned.  Plus, I’ll reveal the after of the school we worked on in Argentina.

 

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