Delicious fresh vegetables from the local farmers market went into this gazpacho. This time of year you must take advantage of the awesome selection of fruit and vegetables at your local farmers market. In Colorado there is so much local produce it would be a pity not to . I bought the tomatoes , cucumbers, peppers, garlic and red onion all from our local farmers market. Whole Foods also sells many local products which is so amazing. It's just quite wonderful to put food on your table from your own garden or at least from one within 100 miles of where you live. Farm to Table . Simply put it's the best . There are many variations of this wonderful cold soup -- take what you want from this one and put your own mark on it.
Ingredients:
1 cucumber or 2 - 3 Kirby size cukes, halved and seeded , but don't peel . If not Kirby cukes you can use a hothouse cucumber. Go organic, because you are eating the peel.
2 yellow bell peppers, cored and seeded. Of course you can use red bell peppers, but not green -- you can also use an Italian frying pepper (cubanelle) if available or a light green pepper like an Anaheim, just core and seed all peppers.
4 tomatoes -- Whole Foods and most grocery stores have beautiful produce this time of year so use the heirlooms if you can get them or any of the fresh tomatoes will do.
1 red onion
3 garlic cloves, minced or throw them into the food processor along with vegetables
3 cups Spicy V8 or use regular tomato juice
1/4 cup champagne vinegar or white wine vinegar
1/4 cup good olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
*1/2 to 1 whole jalapeno depending on how spicy you like it, remove seeds from jalapeno
* cilantro, chopped is a nice touch for garnish
*avocado cut up is also nice garnish
*shrimp is also a nice garnish
Directions:
I cut up cukes, tomatoes, bell peppers and red onions into app. 1 inch cubes. Put each vegetable separately into a food processor with steel blade and pulse until it is coarsely chopped. You can also use an immersion blender in a deep bowl--you may need to do it in batches or use a regular blender.
After each vegetable is chopped up add the garlic ( if you haven't already) , juice, vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper. I like to drizzle olive oil slowly in while I blend it. Pour into a large bowl mix well and chill before serving. It's a good idea to chill for a while, the longer it sits the more the taste develops.
The second night I added shrimp and avocado.
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