Early Girl Gazpacho

Gazpacho is one of the glories of summer, and it has to be made with garden fresh tomatoes.  Forget about eating it during the rest of the year, you can only make and enjoy a truly great gazpacho in the summer.   Its charm lies in the exhilarating inverse proportion of  sweltering hot (you) to icy cold (it).  Think of it this way: if its hot enough to ripen tomatoes on the vine, it’s gazpacho time!   I’m using Early Girl tomatoes because they are ready now.  It’s only the fifth day of summer, after all, and I want to get a jump on this.

I like to use classic, juicy red tomatoes because they have the best, meaty tomato flavor.  But I have a secret weapon for getting an extra dose of color and flavor into my gazpacho —  I blend some roasted red peppers along with the tomatoes to brighten everything up.  It gives the base of the soup a vivid shade and adds a layer of smokey flavor.

For the rest of the veggies, find the freshest possible…a nice, taut young cucumber (preferably pickling or English, they have less seeds)  a deep purple red onion, and the brightest bell peppers you can locate.   Grab a few cherry tomatoes for garnish, along with a few small edible blossoms.  If you have a yard, you probably have some growing somewhere, and if you don’t have a yard, take a walk around the block and see what you can find.  I have a list of common edible flowers in THIS POST.

I make the base the day before I want to serve the soup, that way the flavors have a chance to develop and it makes it so easy to assemble for a quick dinner with crusty bread and wine.