I LOVE gazpacho when the weather turns warm. I know that not everyone shares that same love. Perhaps that’s because they think of it as cold tomato soup and cold soup doesn’t sound appetizing to them. Maybe we should come up with another way to describe it. At any rate, I’ve made this for several people who claim to not like it and they have asked for the recipe after they had it. Yes, even grown ups sometimes need to be forced to try new things with an open mind. I got this recipe from Food & Wine magazine. It was contributed by Suzanne Goin of the restaurant Lucques. It originally calls for yellow tomatoes but when I can’t find yellow tomatoes I substitute red. The trick when using the yellow ones is to make sure they have a vibrant color to them, or your soup comes out looking pale.
Ingredients
2 1/2 pounds ripe tomatoes
3 Persian cucumbers or 1 hothouse cucumber
1/2 jalapeño, seeded and cut in half (keep the seeds in if you want more of a kick)
4 cilantro sprigs, plus 12 cilantro leaves
2 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons diced red or orange sweet pepper
3 tablespoons diced red onion
18 small cherry tomatoes, cut in half
Good quality extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling
Preparation
Boil a large pot of water. While you are waiting for your pot to boil, cut a small “X” at the bottom of each tomato and get a large bowl with ice water ready. Once the water is boiling, drop your tomatoes in for about 30 seconds. Then remove the tomatoes and place them in the ice bath to stop the cooking. Peel the tomato skin with our fingers. Then core and roughly chop the tomatoes and set aside.
Reserve about 1/2 of a cucumber and peel the rest. Then coarsely chop them and set aside. Then dice the unpeeled cucumber into small cubes and set aside.
In a blender, place about 1/2 of the following ingredients: tomatoes, chopped cucumber, jalapeño, cilantro springs, garlic, red wine vinegar and olive oil. Blend until smooth. If it is too thick, add in some of the ice water from the tomato ice bath. Pour out the soup from the blender and repeat with the other 1/2 of the ingredients.
Season with salt and pepper and refrigerate to chill, at least 2 hours or you can do this the day before.
When you are ready to serve, give your soup a good stir to make sure it is well blended. Garnish with diced cucumber, sweet pepper, red onion, cherry tomatoes, the sprig of cilantro and a drizzle of olive oil.
