It's too hot for nearly, well, anything, but Sunday night's cool down did bring the temperature down in the house a bit, making it almost comfortable all day Monday. Comfortable enough that I was willing to chop and stir for gazpacho, and even added cheesy paninis to the Meatless Monday menu. Unlike my usual litany of ingredients and methods, I will actually detail the recipe like a normal person (and will my blog every get famous if I don't recount the recipes with exact ingredients and measurements?).
Let me state right now that I have no garden and no current access to fresh tomatoes so there are none in this recipe (which is sacrilege to 'real' gazpacho, I know), but this was a very good batch, so take that for what it is. I looked at a few recipes and took the parts I liked and came up with this one.
Gazpacho
2 stalks celery, thinly chopped
1/2 large (or 1 whole small) green pepper, chopped
1 large cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped
1/3 large sweet onion, finely chopped
1 large fatty clove of garlic (I used a press for mine)
About a quarter cup of fresh parsley, finely chopped
1 12oz can fire roasted tomatoes, with juice
4-6 cups tomato juice
Salt and pepper to taste (you probably won't need much salt due to the tomatoes and tomato juice)
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
Several dashes of hot sauce (I used Extra Hot Valentina)
2 tsp. sugar
Stir all ingredients together and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.
For the paninis I had a lovely flat-ish sesame seed loaf which I cut in half lengthwise and spread each side with a teeny bit of mayo. I had grated cheeses so I used half sharp cheddar and half of a pizza blend. I only had a teeny amount of those delicious sweet salad peppers left (how have I lived so long without Mt. Olive's Sweet Salad Peppers???), but I stuck them on too. Ten minutes or so in the panini press and they were crispy and gooey and a perfect accompaniment to the chilled soup.
It all also seemed to work as an aphrodisiac, an added bonus, since nothing else has worked in this weather!
Let me state right now that I have no garden and no current access to fresh tomatoes so there are none in this recipe (which is sacrilege to 'real' gazpacho, I know), but this was a very good batch, so take that for what it is. I looked at a few recipes and took the parts I liked and came up with this one.
Gazpacho
2 stalks celery, thinly chopped
1/2 large (or 1 whole small) green pepper, chopped
1 large cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped
1/3 large sweet onion, finely chopped
1 large fatty clove of garlic (I used a press for mine)
About a quarter cup of fresh parsley, finely chopped
1 12oz can fire roasted tomatoes, with juice
4-6 cups tomato juice
Salt and pepper to taste (you probably won't need much salt due to the tomatoes and tomato juice)
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
Several dashes of hot sauce (I used Extra Hot Valentina)
2 tsp. sugar
Stir all ingredients together and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.
For the paninis I had a lovely flat-ish sesame seed loaf which I cut in half lengthwise and spread each side with a teeny bit of mayo. I had grated cheeses so I used half sharp cheddar and half of a pizza blend. I only had a teeny amount of those delicious sweet salad peppers left (how have I lived so long without Mt. Olive's Sweet Salad Peppers???), but I stuck them on too. Ten minutes or so in the panini press and they were crispy and gooey and a perfect accompaniment to the chilled soup.
It all also seemed to work as an aphrodisiac, an added bonus, since nothing else has worked in this weather!
2 comments:
Oooh, I totally want to try your gazpacho! I am looking for WW friendly recipes and this totally fits the bill. :)
And you could easily leave out the olive oil and then it's virtually fat free.
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