Farmers Market Gazpacho Recipe

Gazpacho is a wonderful recipe for making the most of a trip to the farmer’s market. It is perfect on a hot day, and loaded with fresh vegetables. Using fresh, in-season veggies will make it exponentially more flavorful. I tried it for the first time after my trip to the market last Tuesday (YMCA farmers market hours are Tuesdays from 3:30 to 6:30, through Sept 25th). It was a hit with my preschooler, who is unsurprisingly the picky eater of the family.

At the stand where I bought they tomatoes, they especially recommended Roma tomatoes for gazpacho. They turned out to be a great choice, because they are solid and have few seeds. Since this is all destined for the blender, don’t spend a lot of time on tedious knife work. Just get everything to a size so that your blender can do the hard work for you.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds ripe Roma tomatoes
1 cup cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped/chunked
1/2 of a red bell pepper, seeds/membranes removed cut in several pieces
1/2 of a small red onion, cut into small chunks
1 small jalapeno, seeds/membranes removed and chopped
1/4 cup of extra-virgin olive oil
juice of one lime
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon garlic salt
freshly ground black pepper

*If you are afraid of the heat from a jalapeno, but still want the flavor, a poblano pepper makes a flavorful and very mild substitute–use half the poblano, which is quite a bit larger than a jalapeno (also seeded, and with the membrane removed) and you can keep it toned-down. A few dashes of Cholula will bring the spice back in to individual servings.

1.) Cut tomatoes in quarters and gently squeeze/finger sweep seeds into the trash. Chop the meat of the tomatoes into a few small chunks.

2.) Put all the chopped vegetables together and puree. It is best if you can cover and chill for a couple of hours, up to overnight.

3.) Garnish with a few leaves of cilantro, a dollop of plain yogurt or sour cream, and some diced red onion. Enjoy!

This is an adaptation of Alton Brown’s Gazpacho Recipe available on Food Network’s website at http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/gazpacho-recipe/index.html. I have simplified some steps, leaving out scalding the tomatoes to peel them, and straining out the juice. It doesn’t hurt it a bit, and takes far less time. If you prefer to thin it out, you can add a bit of canned tomato or V8 juice, but I didn’t find it necessary.

Written by Y Member: Melanie Smith-Bell