Recipe for Health: Summer Gazpacho
Ina Garten, “The Barefoot Contessa,” describes this simple cold summer soup from her 1999 The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook as “liquid salad.” With the bounty of gorgeous early-summer produce in your garden or at your local farmers’ markets, it’s time to give this recipe a spin in your food processor and serve up a refreshing summer snack. Perfect après-beach starter!
You can watch a video of Garten preparing the recipe here: www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/gazpacho-recipe.html.
- 1 hothouse cucumber, halved and seeded, but not peeled
- 2 red bell peppers, cored and seeded
- 4 plum tomatoes
- 1 red onion
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 23 oz tomato juice (3 C)
- 1⁄4 C white-wine vinegar
- 1⁄4 C good olive oil
- 1⁄2 T kosher salt
- 1 t freshly ground black pepper
Recipe Key: C = cup | T= tablespoon | t = teaspoon
Roughly chop the cucumbers, bell peppers, tomatoes and red onions into 1-inch cubes. Put each vegetable separately into a food processor fitted with a steel blade, and pulse until it is coarsely chopped. Do not over process!
After each vegetable is processed, combine them in a large bowl and add the garlic, tomato juice, vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper. Mix well and chill before serving. The longer gazpacho sits, the more the flavors develop.