It’s August so it must be gazpacho time

At the start of tomato season, when my family comes for dinner, they expect to see gazpacho when they open the fridge. And of course, I oblige. I love it too.

It is the essence of summer.

While I do grow tomatoes, cucumbers, garlic and herbs in my backyard garden, I never seem to have enough tomatoes to make the amounts of gazpacho everyone wants so when I see baskets of local tomatoes, I also buy some. But then, there are other ways I want to savour my tomato bounty so I do cheat, on occasion, and add some tomato juice to the mix. But if you have an endless amount of tomatoes, skip the tomato juice.

The beauty of gazpacho is that you can be flexible with the amounts. I also sometimes add some leftover crusty bread but if I don’t have it, the gazpacho is fine without it.  If you’re not a fan of cilantro, add other herbs, such as basil or parsley. The term to taste really does apply here.

I often empty the food processor contents into two bowls and when I go to put it into containers or jars to refrigerate it, I take equal portions from each bowl.

Gazpacho

Makes 10 plus servings

1-2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 medium red onion, cut into 8ths
1/3 cup chopped cilantro
1 3-4 inch piece of crusty baguette, moistened with water (optional)
4-6 tbsp red wine vinegar, or to taste
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
4 – 5 large ripe, red tomatoes, (about 2 – 2 1/2 pounds), cut in 8ths
2 red peppers, cored, seeded and cut in 8ths
1 English cucumber, cut into 2-inch pieces
1 1.36 L-can tomato juice (optional if you have more ripe tomatoes)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Cilantro sprigs, for garnish

Place the garlic, onion, cilantro, baguette, if using, vinegar and half the tomatoes, peppers, cucumber in a food processor and process to a smooth puree. Add the olive oil in a stream through the feed tube. Place half in a large bowl and the other half in another bowl. Process remaining vegetables until smooth. Add to each large bowl and mix together. Season with salt, freshly ground pepper, and more vinegar, if desired, to taste.

Refrigerate at least one hour or overnight. Serve garnished with remaining chopped herbs.

Enjoy!