So, today I decided to take on another nemesis: gazpacho. Like stir fry, this is yet another seemingly basic thing I have yet to master. So, thanks to bountiful CSA tomatoes, I decided to give it another go.
My previous attempts at gazpacho have tasted more like liquid salsa. Not horrible, but only so much you can eat without reaching for the tortilla chips. I have tried at least a half dozen such recipes--all different, and all tasted like salsa. So this time, I went to my new standby cookbook, where I found Mark Bittman's recipe for gazpacho.
2 pounds of tomatoes. OK.
1 cucumber. Sure.
2 or 3 slices day-old bread. Say what now?
OK, well, if you say so Mark. You haven't failed me yet. So, into my blender all this goes, along with the 1/4 cup olive oil, 2 tbsp. red wine vinegar, 1 clove chopped garlic, salt and pepper.
Next time, I think I will have to use fewer tomatoes or make a half batch because, well, this didn't quite fit into my (nice, normal-sized) blender. I had to add ingredients in stages, and then at the end I was still holding the top down on the blender, as I prefer my nice white kitchen ceiling to pink. (Yes, pink, but I'll get to that.)
Here are my 2 pounds of tomatoes (had to mix in a few Romas... not enough slicers in the CSA basket this week), so I'm sure I didn't use too many, after I cut out the tops.
Overall, this recipe made gazpacho that tastes like gazpacho. (No salsa flavor! Probably because I didn't add lime juice, cilantro or green pepper, as I have in past iterations.) The texture is nice, and similar to what I've had in restaurants (maybe the bread crumbs add that secret mojo?). But the color: it's pink! (image below is NOT Photoshopped)
I added some little hot pepper slices to my husband's to "manly" it up a little (although they were really cute, small peppers). His reaction, "We're having fruit smoothies for dinner?" And that's exactly what it looked like: strawberry smoothies.
I won't say this was a failure. The toasted basil bread with local chevre was great, and the soup tasted right. So, is that a success? Anyone know what color traditional gazpacho is supposed to be?
love it. my favorite gazpacho (of course I don't have a recipe) includes a small amount of habanero, and it is not (all) blended, but has some small chunks. My CSA has only yielded one tomato so far (cool weather) but I plan to tackle this soon. I'll keep you posted!
Posted by: ultrarunnergirl/Kiry | July 30, 2009 at 01:34 PM