Gazpacho is a tomato-based soup, best served cold. My belly and taste buds think its a delicious salsa made into a hearty meal. Anytime I tell someone I made gazpacho, they respond with a very puzzled look on their face: “What IS gazpacho?!!” 🙂

This is one of those times where I looked at SO many online recipes, blogs, and photos that I overwhelmed myself on such a simple cold soup. Thus, I can only refer you to one of the best inspirations during my search: The Best Gazpacho Recipes by Food & Wine. I’ll still provide a list of ingredients that I used, but I feel like this dish is quite forgiving, so you can’t go wrong no matter how little or too much of a certain ingredient.

Mostly, it’s what I had from my garden and CSA share for the week. It’s the perfect “soup” for the rising mercury here in centrale Tejas. I added boiled shrimp and homemade garlic bread (with butter, minced garlic, and fresh parsley from my garden) to my meal. It was magnificent! 🙂

INGREDIENTS:

• organic heirloom, roma, & cherry tomatoes ~ washed, cut into chunks
• organic pickling cucumbers ~ washed, cut into chunks
• 3-5 large cloves garlic ~ peeled
• 1/2 small yellow onion ~ washed, peeled, cut into chunks
• 1 organic red bell pepper ~ washed, cut into chunks
• 2 sprigs scallions ~ washed, chopped
• 1/2 bunch organic cilantro ~ washed, stems removed, & chopped
• 1 cup spicy V8 juice
• sea salt & pepper to taste
• 2 tb distilled vinegar
• 1 tb organic cane sugar
• splash of extra virgin olive oil

DIRECTIONS:

1. Put the ingredients & 1/2 of the cilantro in a food processor and whirl until desired texture. I don’t recommend that it gets too smooth; you might as well drink the V8 for dinner. 🙂
2. Add the 1/2 reserve of chopped cilantro and fold it into the soup with a spoon.
3. Serve chilled with garlic bread, boiled shrimp, and fresh sugar snaps (if you have any). Voila!