Florida Gardening: Our Favorite Recipes..., 1 by KatG

KatG wrote:
We had this tonight. I make this every so often when I’m over-heated and just feel like something easy and refreshing. It’s really good if you have fresh grown tomatoes that you don’t know what to do with. It’s so simple. (serves about 4)

Easy Gazpacho

5 medium sized ripe tomatoes
½ large Onion chopped
1/3 English cucumber peeled and chopped
2 Cloves Garlic chopped
½ Green Pepper, seeded and chopped
3 tablespoons Olive Oil
2 Tablespoons White Vinegar
½ Bunch of fresh parsley (or Cilantro if you like it)
Lots of salt to taste to wake up the tomatoes
Pepper to taste
8 ozs of spicy V8 juice (or tomato juice) bloody Mary mix works too
3/4 teaspoon paprika
Half and half cream (optional)

Boil a saucepan full of water and drop the fresh tomatoes in for about 30 seconds. Remove from the water and peel them under cold running water. Chop them coarsely.

In a blender or food processor, combine the tomatoes, garlic, chopped onion, cucumber, green pepper, olive oil, vinegar, parsley and salt and pepper. Blend to your desired texture, I like mine finer, but some people like it chunkier. Just keep testing while blending. Stir in the V-8 juice and paprika. Put it in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours to blend flavors and chill.

Optional: When you put it in the bowls to serve, pour about a tablespoon of half and half on top…it just gives it a little richer texture and cuts the acidity. You can also add some Hot-sauce if you’re into real spicy!

I’m looking forward to the leftover bowl I’ll have for breakfast tomorrow, as it will really be flavored! Haha

Enjoy

Kat


This message was edited Jun 21, 2009 11:35 PM