Saturday, August 28, 2010

The Best Gazpacho


     Tomatoes are in abundance in most Chicagoland gardens and one of my all time favorite tomato dishes is gazpacho.  Ever since I tasted the first crop of baby heirlooms in my garden I knew I had to find the perfect gazpacho recipe for these amazing little fruits.  There are many different versions of the soup, including pureeing the ingredients with day old bread, adding cheeses or olives for a Greek version, and spicing things up with jalapenos and Mexican spices.  This recipe, from the master of mastering the art of cooking, Food Network's Alton Brown's gazpacho is the one that spoke to me the most.  It is a basic gazpacho with with tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, and red bell peppers, but he takes it over the top with chile peppers, cumin, lime juice, and Worcestershire sauce.  I can't say enough about the Worcestershire in this.  You would never know that it was in there, but with every bite you are asking yourself, "what is that something extra in here?"!  I topped it with steamed, marinated shrimp.  Marinate cooked shrimp for at least 30 minutes in lime juice, chopped chile pepper, garlic, and salt and pepper.
Shrimp is currently on sale at Dominick's.

Gazpacho

**Alton Brown flash steams his tomatoes for easy peeling.  This seems like a daunting extra step, but was really very easy and made a big difference in the soup.  No slimy skins here-only yummy bites of meaty tomatoes!  My soup is a little darker than most gazpacho because of my heirlooms which have a mix of dark red and green pulp.  

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