After seeing all the gorgeous tomatoes at the farm and having eaten a just-okay gazpacho at a cafe earlier in the week, I decided to try making my own at home. Since it’s basically just a puree of vegetables, bread, vinegar and oil, it fits neatly into my summer cooking strategy of using the stove/oven as little as possible. With guidance from Mark Bittman’s recipe in “How to Cook Everything,” (minus his optional anchovies) this turned out to be the perfect light summer meal. — Adrienne McIlvaine
{Recipe after the jump}
What You’ll Need:
- 3 or 4 medium to large CSA tomatoes
- 1 clove CSA garlic
- 1 CSA cucumber
- 1 green bell pepper
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 cup water
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 2 or 3 slices of day-old bread
- 2 tablespoons sherry or red wine vinegar
Putting It All Together:
Rough chop the tomatoes, garlic, pepper, cucumber and bread and combine them in a food processor or blender with the vinegar, olive oil and water until fairly smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Refrigerate for a few hours before serving with a garnish of olive oil.
Note: I used some yellow heirloom tomatoes, which, when mixed with the vinegar, made the gazpacho less red than usual but had no effect on the flavor.
