remember when i told you about my friend tom and how i had him over for dinner to celebrate his new step in life.  the next few posts on josie’s kitchen will be recipes from the different dishes that i made that evening.  first, is gazpacho!

gazpacho is a cold, tomato based soup originated in spain.  there are many gazpacho recipes out there but i made the traditional red gazpacho for us.  

INGREDIENTS:
5 fresh tomatoes 
tomato juice, about half a cup
1 cucumber
1/2 red onion
1 red bell pepper
1 small jalapeño pepper
1 celery stalk
juice of 1 lime
1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin
1 teaspoon of kosher salt
2 1/2 teaspoons of balsamic vinegar
2 1/2 teaspoons or worcestershire sauce
fresh ground pepper to taste 
1/4 cup of olive oil
2 garlic cloves 

INSTRUCTIONS:
start by coring your tomatoes. 

dont throw out the core and seeds. instead, using a strainer, squeeze out as much of the tomato juice as possible. 

you should have about 1/2 cup of fresh tomato juice. if you dont have 1/2 a cup that is ok, and it is ok too if you have more than 1/2 cup.

complete up to a cup of juice with the store bought tomato juice. 

next, peel the garlic, seed the jalapeño and cucumber.  cut the cucumber, tomatoes, red bell pepper, red onion, celery and jalapeño into chunks. 

put all of the vegetables and fruit (tomato is a fruit, did you know that?) in a blender.  add the cumin, pepper, salt, worcestershire, balsamic vinegar and olive oil. 

also, add the tomato juice. pretty much everything but the basil should be in the blender right about now. 

puree for 3-5 minutes or until your desired consistency.  if your blender does not have a puree option, just blend and it will be fine.  i like my gazpacho a bit chunky so i only pureed it for about 3 minutes. 

yum, gazpacho!

next, place your gazpacho in a plastic or glass container and put it in the fridge for at least 2 hours to overnight.  gazpacho, like revenge, is a dish best served cold. 

serve with some fresh basil. 

this gazpacho is not very tomato-y because we’ve added all the other stuff.  the jalapeño adds a nice kick to it, but it is definitely not too hot to eat. 

it was chunky and fresh. kind of like a salad in soup form - a refreshing summer soup!

i hope you try making this at home.  thanks for stopping by!