Barefoot Bloggers: Gazpacho

As I said in my last post Gazpacho is not something my wife would go for. She is not a tomato person and she doesn't like peppers at all. I did kind of want to try this though and not just skip the recipe. I decided to make it on father's day when we had other people over that could try it.

The recipe was very easy - you just throw everything in the food processor (one at a time) and give it a few pulses.

I should have thought about it a little because the recipe makes a lot - a least if you are not serving it as a main course. I wasn't really making it one of my main dishes on father's day since I knew a lot of people would not like it. I just figured I would let those that wanted to try it have it as a little appetizer. Well I totally forgot about it. While I was cleaning things off the table I noticed the bowl in the fridge so it was a little bit of an after thought. I tried it along with my Mom and my sister. I don't think anyone really loved it. I thought it was OK but it wasn't anything that I would just gobble up because it was sooo good. My sister thought it would have been better as a dip than as a soup. I think I agree with that - add a few hot peppers and it would be a good salsa.

I did still have a lot left over and my wife thought it might go over at her work. Well apparently it did. Everyone finished it off and we even got a few requests for the recipe. I guess she got the dip comment there as well. It won't go on my list to make in the future but I am glad other people liked it.

Thanks to Meryl from My Bit of Earth for this months recipe. I will be watching to see what she thinks of the recipe.

Gazpacho

(Source: Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, page 79)

Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients

• 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 ounces tomato juice (3 cups)
• 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup good olive oil
• 1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

Directions

1. 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 overprocess!
2. 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.