Gazpacho
Gazpacho is a cold, uncooked, tomato-y soup that is very refreshing on a hot day. We add a little bread to thicken the pureed soup a bit and to give it a little creaminess. We use farmer's market vegetables for the best flavor. Originally served as part of: Shrimp Skewers and Cold Soup.
Ingredients
- 1 slice very thin white bread (Pepperidge Farm)
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1½ pounds fresh beefsteak tomatoes
- 1/3 long english cucumber
- 1 medium red bell pepper
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup water
- salt & pepper
- 1 tablespoon lime juice (freshly squeezed)
- hot sauce (Tabasco)
- cilantro (cleaned)
- homemade croutons
Instructions
We start at lunchtime by crumbling the slice of bread into our blender. Next, on our cutting board, we crush, peel, and coarsely chop our garlic. We add this to the blender. We give the tomatoes a quick rinse and dry and then coarsely chop them, removing the core. We get about 2 cups of tomatoes and we add these to the blender. Next, we peel about half of the skin off the rinsed piece of cucumber. We chop the cucumber and put about a cup into the blender. The remaining 1/2 cup or so we chop into small pieces for garnish for the soup. We put the garnish into a resealable container. The red bell pepper we also chop some for the blender and some for the garnish. We add 1/4 cup of the pepper to the blender and the rest we chop small and add to the garnish container.
We add the vinegar, oil, water, salt and pepper to the blender and puree. When the soup is nicely pureed, we taste for seasoning and add the lime juice and a few drops of Tabasco. We strain the soup through a fine-mesh strainer into a large container. We have about 3 cups of gazpacho. The soup is smooth and thin, but it will thicken slightly in the fridge. We probably could have left out the water for these juicy tomatoes. We cover and refrigerate both the soup and the garnish for a few hours.
We serve the soup chilled, tasting first for seasoning. We add the cucumber and red pepper garnish and some cilantro and croutons.
Ingredients
- 1 slice very thin white bread (Pepperidge Farm)
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1½ lb fresh beefsteak tomatoes
- ⅓ English cucumber
- 1 medium red bell pepper
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup water (skip it with juicy tomatoes)
- salt and pepper
- 1 tbsp fresh lime juice
- hot sauce (Tabasco)
- cilantro
- homemade croutons
Instructions
What's a kid job?
A Kid job is a step kids can help with, with a grown-up nearby, not one they do on their own. Every kid is different, so go by what your child can do rather than by age. Roughly:
- Little ones (about 2 to 4) can stir, pour in ingredients a grown-up has measured, tear lettuce, wash vegetables and sprinkle toppings.
- Older kids (about 5 to 8) can also measure and level, crack eggs, whisk, roll and cut out dough, and put things together.
- Bigger kids can read the recipe aloud, keep track of the timer, and take on more of the cooking as they're ready.
Steps with a knife, microplane, skewers, stove, oven, grill or hot oil, or with raw meat, poultry or seafood, are marked Grown-up. Kids can still watch those, from a safe distance.
Grown-up
At lunchtime, crumble the bread into a blender. Crush, peel and chop the garlic and add it. Core and coarsely chop the tomatoes (about 2 cups) and add them.
Grown-up
Peel about half the cucumber skin. Chop about 1 cup into the blender and the rest small for garnish. Add ¼ cup of pepper to the blender and chop the rest small for the garnish. Refrigerate the garnish in a container.
Add the vinegar, oil, water, salt and pepper and purée. Taste, then add the lime juice and a few drops of Tabasco.
Strain through a fine strainer into a container (about 3 cups). Cover and refrigerate a few hours.
Kid job
Taste the cold soup for seasoning and serve topped with the cucumber and pepper garnish, cilantro and croutons.