Gazpacho Soup

You’ll be happy to know all is forgiven. Seems I’m not the only one to have forgotten my sister’s birthday. She read my blog post and called to say I had been keeping very good company in my neglect. Turns out one of her best friends and all of her co-workers were scrunched in the Bad Corner with me. The whole gang forgot her birthday. The irony? Robin works for the Alzheimer Society. Nuff said.

Moving onto today’s topic. Soup. Colourful, isn’t it?

The tomatoes and opal basil are from my garden. I’m so darned pleased it’s ridiculous. You’d think I’d given birth or cured cancer. But as I confessed earlier, it was nature, not me, that produced a stellar crop.

After a delicious 150-calorie gazpacho at Pret a Manger during my travels, I decided to make a batch myself. While researching recipes I found an amazing variety of opinions on the appropriate texture for this soup. Some pureed everything until smooth, others simply diced the vegetables and tossed it all in tomato juice. A third camp did a little of each.

So, here’s my recipe. Make it as chunky or smooth as you like. Being a middle child, I took the middle road and pureed only half the ingredients.

How do you like your gazpacho?

Gazpacho Soup

Printable recipe

Ingredients

• 2 cups fresh tomatoes, peeled and diced
• 2 cups English cucumber, diced
• 1/2 red pepper, diced
• 1/2 yellow pepper, diced
• 1 jalapeno pepper, minced
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/2 red onion, minced
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp red wine
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 1 tbsp sugar or honey
• 4 cups low-sodium tomato juice
• 1/4 tbsp fresh herbs, finely minced (cilantro OR basil OR dill – or any combination)
• salt and pepper to taste

Garnish

• sour cream (optional)

Instructions

For chunky soup

1. Combine all the ingredients.
2. Season to taste.
3. Chill at least 2 hours before serving with a dollop of sour cream.

For semi- chunky soup

1. Set aside half the tomatoes, half the cucumber and all of the yellow pepper.
2. In batches, puree the remaining ingredients in a blender.
3. Mix set aside vegetables into the pureed mixture.
4. Season to taste.
5. Chill at least 2 hours before serving with a dollop of sour cream.

For smooth soup

1. In batches, puree all the ingredients in a blender (you can use a whole red pepper and omit the yellow for more intensely red soup).
2. Season to taste.
3. Chill at least 2 hours before serving with a dollop of sour cream.