Thursday, August 30, 2012

Summer Gazpacho

I made a brilliant discovery this summer, watermelon and tomatoes actually go well together! Before you roll your eyes and stop reading, you have to try it first. The sweetness of the watermelon compliments all the other savory ingredients of a typical gazpacho (cold, tomato soup) so it was much easier to love-most are way too salty for me. It also has a bonus for all you onion haters out there-I don't use ANY in this recipe...which is tough to find for gazpacho.

This soup was inspired by a wonderful watermelon-tomato salad that I made for a party with my girlfriends purely because I stumbled upon it while browsing www.epicurious.com and the picture was captivating.  Whether it tasted good or not would be irrelevant because of its beauty, I thought. Turns out, it was surprisingly delicious and addicting so that I craved it for weeks before I collected enough of the ingredients to have it again. The next time I made it, I had leftovers so I made it into a great summer gazpacho. I really suggest making the salad first and then having the gazpacho the next day-so you get the best of both worlds. Isnt' it pretty?


This cold soup is fun in that the spicy-heat of it makes you forget it is actually a cold soup you are eating. Despite that, it really isn't as good unless you serve it really cold (this means chilling it for a couple hrs before serving or else pouring over ice cubes). As with all cold soups-use mini portions and you'll enjoy it more.

I even had it one day with lime-marinated shrimp on top, which was awesome! It made me think of having ceviche at a Mexican resort on the beach.

Ingredients for Salad:
watermelon
tomatoes of different colors
cucumber
avocado
2 TBSP lime juice
Fresh herbs (I used mint and tarragon, but cilantro would be awesome too)
(cut each fruit/vegetable into chunks and arrange on plate, sprinkle with lime juice and herbs)

Dressing:
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 TBSP olive oil
1 tsp ground coriander
(mix into flask and drizzle onto the salad right before eating)

To make Gazpacho:
Any leftover watermelon/tomato salad
2 cloves garlic
1/2 jalepeno (seeded)
1-2 TBSP of dressing (see above)
lime-marinated shrimp (optional)

Put all ingredients into a blender (reserving a few small chunks to use as a garnish). Chill, and serve.

1 comment:

  1. I like the ceviche idea with using it as a shrimp dip. It sounds more like a marinade to me than a soup, but I can't judge till I've tried it.

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