End of the Season Gazpacho

My beloved tomato plants took a severe beating in yesterday's storm.  I'm not sure whether it was the wild wind or the deluge of rain, but they look like hell.  The ground is covered with tomatoes.  I am going to glean what I can and hope that the remaining soldiers can hang on a bit longer until the season's first frost.

Earlier this summer I experimented with some gazpacho recipes.  I decided that I like my gazpacho to have some texture and chew.  For that reason, I loved Ree Drummond's gazpacho.  Her technique of adding finely diced and minced vegetables to the pureed vegetables worked perfectly for me.

This gazpacho is a wise way to use up some of those extra tomatoes and random veggies you may still have in your garden.  It tastes fresh and clean and is relatively quick to make. Just be sure you leave enough time to chill it before serving.  If you are good with your food processor, you can do most of your dicing and prep with it.  Just be sure not to pulverize the veggies.  Do the dicing in small batches.  Serve the gazpacho as a first course or have a big bowl for dinner.  If there are any left-overs, it makes a delicious lunch although I must warn you the raw garlic becomes more pronounced.

Gazpacho

Adapted from Ree Drummond, www.thepioneerwoman.com July 12, 2009
Serves 8

Soup Ingredients

• 2 cloves garlic, smashed
• 1/2 cup diced red onion
• 1 large cucumber, seeded and diced
• 1 1/2 pounds tomatoes, diced (I used Roma, cherry and some pear tomatoes)
• 1 fire roasted red pepper, skin removed and diced (I used jarred)
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 1 smallish to medium zucchini, diced
• 3 cups tomato juice
• 1 tablespoon fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (add more to taste later if you like)
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 6 dashes Tabasco
• fresh ground pepper to taste

Garnish Ingredients

• diced veggies, reserved from above
• sour cream (or plain Greek yogurt like I did)
• sliced avocado

 Prep

1. In a blender or food processor, combine the garlic with half of all the diced vegetables and all of the tomato juice, cilantro, salt, olive oil, vinegar, and Tabasco.  Process until mixture is blended, but not pureed.  It should look speckled. 
2. Pour mixture into a bowl.  Add the rest of the diced vegetables, reserving about a quarter cup for garnish.  Stir until combined.
3. Cover bowl and chill for several hours.  The flavors need to meld.  The longer it chills, the more the flavor develops.
4. To serve:  stir gazpacho, check seasoning, ladle into bowls and garnish with reserved diced veggies, sour cream and avocado.