Idiot Soup: Fast and Simple Gazpacho
15 Aug
This is the time of year when the market is so full of incredible produce that you have to do almost nothing to it to make an incredible meal. Take this gazpacho: the tomatoes at market are so delicious right now, so bursting with juice and flavor and color, that it needed barely any of the seasoning called for in the recipe, just a dash of vinegar and black pepper to bring out the vibrant heirloom tomatoes I got from Eckerton Hill Farm recently.
Basically, Bittman’s Gazpacho is a couple pounds of tomatoes, a cucumber, a few slices of day old bread with crusts removed, garlic, sherry vinegar and olive oil, plus salt and pepper. You cut the veggies into chunks–I also threw in some garlic–and pulse everything in a food processor until desired consistency is reached. Next time I’d leave some of the soup chunky; a hand blender would be perfect for this. Bittman says to serve immediately or within a few hours, but I ate leftovers of this for a few days with no problem.
Next time I think I’d leave some of the cucumbers and tomatoes in chunks just for variety’s sake and to keep some of their color more defined. I’ll maybe throw in some bell peppers as well. Don’t wait on this one; tomato season is tragically brief.
