gazpacho

[totient]

There are a whole lot of basically identical gazpacho recipes out there. I've been slowly drifting away from them, so:

prepare a big pot of boiling water and an ice bath. Take

- 3.5 pounds of heirloom tomatoes, ideally from the seconds bin at the farmers market. I like pineapple tomatoes best for this but anything with a woody top is probably going to be good.

Score the bottoms, cook for 15 seconds to loosen the skins, chill, and pat dry. Peel the tomatoes, cut into sections to give access to the pulp, and strain all the pulp and any juice from the cutting board through a wire mesh strainer to remove the seeds. Once the seeds are removed from the tomato sections, cut those into half inch pieces.

Measure the juice and take note of how much there was. Add it to the tomatoes, along with:

- 2 cups cucumber, seeded and diced
- 1 cup red onion, diced fine
- 1 cup red pepper, seeded and diced
- 2 jalapenos, seeded and diced fine
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1/4 cup lime juice
- 4 tsp worcestershire sauce
- 4 tsp balsamic vinegar
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp black pepper

subtract the amount of tomato juice you measured from 5 cups, puree that much of the mixture in a blender, and add it back in.

Best served the next day, after the flavors have had a chance to incorporate.

Comments

[minerva42]

Oh right I kept thinking about making gazpacho this summer but didn't. And now it's cold. But I bet I have tomatoes out there - haven't been picking for a few days due to the rain.

Thanks for the recipe!

[totient]

Making it yesterday in the cold grey gloom seemed wrong, but today is sunny and the mercury seems headed in the right direction for eating it.

[jasra]

I have never ever cooked the tomatoes at all before. I've not peeled the tomatoes. Which explains that. :)