Classic Summer Gazpacho
My husband loves soup. Hard stop. Hot, cold, chunky, pureed, you name it. When it's hot out, he will order gazpacho in any variation. Traditional, fruity, chunky, smooth, appetizer, entre, again…doesn’t matter. I, however, have never been a huge fan. A. I am not a huge soup person in general (I like to chew things) and B. The idea of cold soup freaked me out. But every time my husband ordered it, he offered me a bite. When I finally tried it, I deemed it "not bad," but slowly it crept into a space that no longer scared me. He had a rough week last week, and I decided he needed a healthy treat. On my first try at this, I knew I wanted to say away from any of the funkier gazpachos like watermelon, and I wanted something more than a cold tomato soup. I have a traditional tomato base, but used a lot of other veggies and a hit of OJ to have a more complex flavor profile. Topped it with some chopped veggies and sautéed shrimp.
What You'll Need
8 ripe tomatoes, preferably roma tomatos
1 small red onion, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 medium cucumber, chopped with seeds scooped out
1 small green pepper, core and seeds out, roughly chopped
1 small red pepper, core and seeds out, roughly chopped
3 large garlic cloves, peeled
1 jalapeno, seeds removed
Juice and zest from 1 orange
2 tbsp Apple Cider vinegar
3/4 cup olive oil
1 cup tomato juice
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
Garnish with diced cucumbers, red pepper, red onion and more olive oil
What I Did
Bring a large saucepan of water to boil. Score the skin of the tomatoes and allow to boil for about 10 seconds, until the skins begin to peel. Allow to cool, then slice into chunks.
Cut the cucumber and cut in half lengthways. Remove the seeds by running a spoon down the middle. Chop all other veggies.
Throw all veggies, plus everything else, in the blender. This is the one time you don't want to use full power on your Vitamix. If you blend it too fast, your soup will get all weird and foamy. Instead, blend it on about half speed and slowly add vegetables as space opens up.
Refrigerate soup for as long as you can before serving so it's nice and chilly!
