Garden Gazpacho

974 of 1,000 Cookbook Challenge

Garden Gazpacho p.179

INGREDIENTS:

6 ripe plum tomatoes, chopped

1 medium red onion, chopped

1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped

1 medium red bell pepper, chopped

4 green onions, minced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 celery rib, minced

3 TBLS sherry vinegar (substituted with white wine vinegar)

2 TBLS olive oil

1 tsp sugar

Salt

Tabasco sauce (your favorite hot sauce)

2 cups blended vegetable juice (substituted with tomato juice)

¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

¼ cup sliced pitted kalamata olives

DIRECTIONS:

- Set aside ¼ cup of the following: tomatoes, onion, cucumber and bell pepper.

- Set aside half of the green onions.

- Place the rest of those five ingredients into a blender or food processor.

- Add the garlic and celery.

- Process until smooth.

- Add the vinegar, oil and sugar.

- Season to preference with Tabasco sauce.

- Transfer the soup to a large, nonmetallic bowl.

- Cover and refrigerate until well chilled, about 3 hours.

- When ready to serve, stir in the remaining tomatoes, onion, cucumber, bell pepper, and green onions.

- Ladle soup into bowls.

- Garnish with parsley and olives.

- Serve.

PERSONAL THOUGHTS:

For some reason Gazpacho always reminds me of salsa. Is it just me? Anyone else? Anyway, this soup has a high acidity ratio, so keep it cold. It starts to taste fermented when it reaches room temperature. I want to try this recipe again in the summer when tomatoes are in season, I think it will taste much fresher

~~~ #LouisianaVegan