Jul 20, 2018

Super Easy Garden Gazpacho

Summer is in full swing and gardens are bursting with a plethora of fresh veggie goodness...and at times it can seem daunting as to what to do with the harvest!? That coupled with the fact that many of us are not particularly keen to turn on the stove or oven to make a meal....never fear...cuz boy do we have a soup for you! This wildly simple recipe is the perfect antidote to combat the heat of Summer! Did we mention it also requires ZERO cooking! 🙂 Oh annnnddd, most of these ingredients are very much in season and you might just have what you need already right outside your door. (Okay, so the right outside your door, could either mean the garden or the supermarket....perfect either way:-)

Difficulty Meter: SUPER EASY! 🙂

Serves 8-10: Roughly depending on how hungry everyone is and if this is a main course or starter.

Prep Time: 20-30 mins Cook Time: 0 Cool Time: 3 hours or overnight (it only gets better the longer it sits).

Chefs Tip*- It is super helpful to use an immersion blender for this recipe but a regular blender will work too.

Ingredients:

12-13 medium sized tomatoes

3-4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 cloves crushed garlic

2 cups water

2-3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 medium zucchini

1 medium yellow squash

6-7 mini sweet/snacking peppers (feel free to swap one out with a jalapeño to bring on a bit of heat)

1/2 teaspoon Hungarian paprika (or more to taste)

Salt, Pepper and onion powder to taste (start small and add gradually...you can always add but you can't take it back.)

First, take your lovely bounty of tomatoes and chop into chunks.

Press your garlic so all the delicious oils can blend superbly with the tomatoes. If you don't have a garlic press than finely chopping will work too.

Add olive oil, balsamic and water to your tomatoes and garlic.... and now for the fun part...

Blend until fairly smooth. The next steps will help bring texture back into the game....for those of you who were nervous that this was going to wind up being a recipe for tomato juice! 😉

Now dice up your other colorful veggies...

And swoosh them into the pot with the blended tomatoes.

Finally, add your Hungarian paprika, salt, pepper and onion powder. Give it a good stir with a nice hefty wooden spoon.... now go ahead and give this gazpacho a taste! Let chill for at least 3 hours or overnight.

Chefs Tip*- if you are in a pinch...go ahead and throw in a few ice cubes to speed the cooling process...just remember to give a taste before serving to make sure all seasonings check out and are to your liking:-)

As we let our gazpacho chill...we decided to set the scene a bit...