On a hot summer day,
cold soups, like Gazpacho, are incredibly refreshing. The bonus? This Gazpacho
recipe requires no heat and minimal prep - sign me up!
There are many
varieties of Gazpacho out there and most are tomato based, which are ok, but
they remind me too much of salsa and my mind cannot settle with slurping
salsa from a spoon! Besides, when you lived in Spain for 13 years, you
become somewhat of a food snob when someone tries to replicate a Spanish dish -
my taste buds still remember the delicious food, my expectations are high and
the replicates simply don't measure up (yep, food snob).
But I
digress...
When I heard about a
Watermelon Gazpacho at The Copper Onion in Salt Lake City, I was intrigued enough to
want to try it at home. I didn't even need to purchase anything, since I had
everything on hand!
This Gazpacho has
some tomatoes in it, but the sweetness of watermelon and the addition of avocado
balances the often over-powering tomato flavor in traditional Gazpacho.
Using fresh
basil from my herb garden was a definite flavor enhancer (even used some lemon
basil!).
Ingredients
Serves 4
1 garlic clove
1/2 of a large shallot
2 cups cut seedless watermelon (do get this at a farmer's market - you won't regret it!)
1 1/2 cups worth cut tomatoes
1/2 - 1 peeled cucumber
Juice from 2 lemons
Handful of lemon basil or a few leaves of regular basil
3 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 teaspoon sea salt (or to taste)
Cracked black pepper to taste
*Optional: 1 small jalapeno pepper
1 avocado
Place everything but the avocado in the food processor or blender and blend until desired consistency. Now add avocado and blend until incorporated and gazpacho turns a lighter shade of pink.
Let sit in fridge for an hour to chill and so flavors can set. Serve cold with sliced avocado on top!
This was even better the day after and even better than that on day 3!
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