The weather has been unbearably HOT. Gazpacho is the most refreshing soup to eat on a hot summer day. I feel so healthy eating it! It is so FRESH and COLD. It’s perfect as an appetizer, lunch, or light dinner.
I prefer to keep the vegetables chunky, but sometimes I will (almost) puree half of the soup in a food processor and then combine it with the chunky half. This recipe was adapted from my gold standard vegetarian cookbook, The Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen. I had CSA scallions and cippolini onions to add this time. I think that it tastes the best when it is made a day ahead of time.
Yield: 6 servings
- 4 cups tomato juice (I use low-sodium Trader Joe’s Garden Patch vegetable juice)
- 1 sweet onion, finely minced
- 1 medium clove garlic, minced
- 1 medium green bell pepper, minced
- 1 medium red, yellow, or orange bell pepper, minced
- 1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded, & minced (I use an unpeeled seedless English cucumber)
- 2 cups freshly diced tomatoes (a combination of Campari and grape tomatoes is nice)
- 2 scallions, minced or thinly sliced
- juice of 1/2 lemon & 1 lime
- 1 tsp honey
- 2 T red wine vinegar
- 2 T fresh basil, chopped
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
- 3 T extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- Sriracha, Cholula, or cayenne pepper, to taste
- Combine all ingredients. OPTIONAL: Puree all or some.
- Chill until very cold. (at least 2 hours, preferably overnight)
