Gazpazho Soup

Gazpazho Soup

Ingredients

• 1 hothouse cucumber, halved and seeded, but not peeled
• 2 red bell peppers, cored and seeded (yellow and orange for color)
• 4 plum tomatoes
• 1 red onion (use 1/2 to taste) (1/4 of a large vidalia onion)
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 23 ounces tomato juice (3 cups) or (Trader Joes Low Sodium Garden Patch)
  (hot and spicy v8)
• 1/4 cup white wine vinegar or
  (Red or Champagne) or (1 T of high quality balsamic vinegar and 1 T of white wine vinegar: balsamic for sweetness, white for punch.)
  (I never use vinegar so substituted lime juice.)
• 1/4 cup good olive oil
• 1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
  (1 teaspoon of kosher salt)
  (no salt)
• 1 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
• Add a little lemon or lime zest, you get the sweatness without the acid

Garnish: cilantro (1/2 c chopped), Smoked Paprika, or fresh papaya or avocado.

Directions

Roughly chop the cucumbers, bell peppers, tomatoes, and red onions into 1-inch cubes. Put each vegetable separately into a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse until it is coarsely chopped. Do not overprocess!

After each vegetable is processed, combine them in a large bowl and add the garlic, tomato juice, vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Mix well and chill before serving. The longer gazpacho sits, the more the flavors develop.

Suggestions:

I had just made homemade pesto so I added 1/4 cup of it to the soup.

Add a dash of beef stock to give it a heartier taste. Taste as you add seasonings, Don't add salt but lemon juice. Recipes are guidelines just add what you like and take out what you don't like.