It's been hot.
And when that happens, you really don't feel like cooking--not even on the grill because as soon as you step outside, you either
a. melt
b. can't breathe or
c. immediately step back inside and into the shower.
So we've been eating salads, out at restaurants and the following:
a. melt
b. can't breathe or
c. immediately step back inside and into the shower.
So we've been eating salads, out at restaurants and the following:
from Cook's Illustrated July/Aug 20103 lbs ripe tomatoes, cored
1 small cucumber, peeled, halved and seeded
1 medium green bell pepper, halved, cored and seeded
1 small red onion, peeled and halved
2 medium garlic cloves, peeled and quartered
1 small serrano chile, stemmed and halved lengthwise
kosher salt
1 slice white bread, crusts removed and torn into pieces
½ c olive oil
2 T sherry vinegar
2 T finely minced herb: parsley, chives or basil
black pepper
1. Roughly chop 2 lbs or tomatoes, half of cucumber, half of bell pepper and half of onion; place in a large bowl. Add garlic, chile and 1½ t kosher salt; toss until well combined and set aside.
2. Cut remaining tomatoes, cucumber and pepper into ¼ inch dice; place in a medium bowl. Mince remaining onion and add to veggies. Toss with ½ t kosher salt and transfer to a fine-mesh strainer and set over bowl. Set aside 1 hour.
3. Transfer drained veggies to medium bowl and set aside. Add bread pieces to exuded liquid and soak 1 min. Add soaked bread and extra liquid to roughly chopped veggies and toss thoroughly to combine.
4. Blend half of veggie-bread mixture about 30 seconds. With blender running, slowly add ¼ c of oil and continue to blend until smooth (about 2 mins). Strain soup through a fine-mesh strainer into a large bowl, using a rubber scraper to press soup through. Repeat with remaining half.
5. Stir vinegar, minced herb and half of diced veggies to soup and season with pepper to taste. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours (or overnight). Serve, passing remaining diced veggies, olive oil, sherry vinegar and pepper.
2. Cut remaining tomatoes, cucumber and pepper into ¼ inch dice; place in a medium bowl. Mince remaining onion and add to veggies. Toss with ½ t kosher salt and transfer to a fine-mesh strainer and set over bowl. Set aside 1 hour.
3. Transfer drained veggies to medium bowl and set aside. Add bread pieces to exuded liquid and soak 1 min. Add soaked bread and extra liquid to roughly chopped veggies and toss thoroughly to combine.
4. Blend half of veggie-bread mixture about 30 seconds. With blender running, slowly add ¼ c of oil and continue to blend until smooth (about 2 mins). Strain soup through a fine-mesh strainer into a large bowl, using a rubber scraper to press soup through. Repeat with remaining half.
5. Stir vinegar, minced herb and half of diced veggies to soup and season with pepper to taste. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours (or overnight). Serve, passing remaining diced veggies, olive oil, sherry vinegar and pepper.
Red wine vinegar is a perfectly fine substitute and we did basil this time around. Please make sure you use kosher salt (or dial back the regular stuff), as I completely biffed this part. (You may have noticed I actually typed 'kosher salt' a lot up there... ) As a result, our soup's a bit salty... I also used a jalapeño because the store didn't have serranos the day I shopped.
I do wish I could tell you everything's from our garden, but alas, our produce isn't quite ready yet. Perhaps for the next soup!
The bowl is from a potter in Wisconsin...you'll have to ask Chip where...I don't recall.
Book recommendation: Thirteenth Child by Patricia C. Wrede
Recipe recommendation: Creamy Gazpacho
Music recommendation: Christina Perri
2 comments:
That looks AMAZING! When are we getting together? We gotta do it soon!
I know! I just read an awesome recipe on the PW's blog for roasted corn guacamole... between that an the corn/black bean salsa, we'd be set!
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