About once a year I wind up with a bounty of tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers that must be eaten, and of course gazpacho is one way to get them eaten pretty fast.
Except that everyone in my family hates gazpacho ("Cold soup? Cold tomato soup?!?") So gazpacho is one of those recipes (there are several others) that I save to make for lunch when H. is over with the kids for a co-schooling day.
Typically one makes gazpacho with peeled, seeded tomatoes. On Thursday last there were no more big tomatoes, but still many beautiful cherry tomatoes. I asked H. if she minded terribly if the tomatoes were not peeled and seeded, and she said "Of course not. I love tomato seeds. I love cucumber seeds too. I even eat bell pepper seeds." This made the job much easier, and in the end I did not even notice the seeds and peels. I did cut the tops off because I thought maybe the little bit of core would be a problem.
I made one other tweak to the recipe. Gazpacho is normally made with raw everything (except the bread) — raw tomatoes, raw peppers, raw onions. However, H. cannot eat raw onions because they give her heartburn. (As far as I can tell, it's her only major character flaw.) So I didn't use very much onion, and I sauteed it in olive oil first, along with the garlic.
Note that unlike most of my recipes, this only serves 2-3. Start with cold vegetables and juice, you may not have to chill it for very long.
No-Peeling, No-Seeding Cherry Tomato Gazpacho (2-3 servings)
- 1.3 lbs large ripe cherry tomatoes, with just the very tops cut off (you're shooting for a pound of tomato going into your food processor, so if your tomatoes are small, use more)
- 1 medium cucumber, peeled (not seeded) and cut into chunks
- 1 medium green bell pepper, crowns and seeds removed, cut into chunks
- 1/2 of a large fat jalapeño chile, some seeds and ribs removed according to taste, minced
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1/2 a small onion, chopped
- 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil or more
- 1 thick slice bread (I used homemade whole wheat)
- 2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1 and 1/2 to 2 cups tomato juice (mine was my mother-in-law's home canned juice)
- Salt to taste
- Chopped ripe avocado for garnish
Sauté the onion and garlic in 1 Tbsp olive oil until translucent and perhaps a little browned.
Soak the bread in a small amount of water or tomato juice to soften.
Working in batches if necessary, puree the tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, chile, onion and garlic, bread, vinegar, the other 2 Tbsp olive oil, and enough juice to get everything moving in the food processor, a good long time. Puree until it's as smooth as it's going to get. Mix your batches up and chill it till cold (I stuck mine in the freezer for about half an hour). After it's cold, taste and add salt. Divide into bowls and top with the chopped avocado.
Other possible garnishes are sour cream or chopped egg…
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