Recipe Flash: Creamy Gazpacho

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Posted by on Wednesday, August 25th, 2010

WEEKEND LUNCH: Creamy Gazpacho; Radicchio and Mozzarella Toasts; Coffee-Toffee Ice Cream Sandwich Squares

I didn’t notice this recipe published in the Times (oops), but luckily someone else did: my mom’s friend Shelly. She served it to my mom for dinner, (complete with the pecorino crisps Melissa Clark paired with the soup), and it made such an impact I was duly notified of it the next day. The following weekend, Mom and I made it for lunch, starting off with this beauty of an heirloom tomato.

Altogether, it was a very, very easy meal, not just because we paired the gazpacho with cleaned and cooked shrimp and pre-made cocktail sauce. Whereas in many gazpachos, you’ve got to dice lots and lots of vegetables, in this one you stick everything into the blender and boom, lunch is served.
How have you tweaked basic gazpacho recipes? I’m curious to hear about experiments with this soup, from the most authentic to the most bizarre. Do share in the comments!
From my kitchen, albeit small, to yours,
Cara, THE QUARTER-LIFE COOK
**Recipe**
Creamy Gazpacho
Adapted from The New York Times
Serves 2

If you don’t have a regular blender, try using this space-saving immersion blender. Purchase your own here.

Ingredients
1 large tomato (about 1/2 pound), cored and roughly chopped
3/4 cup (6 ounces) plain yogurt, nonfat, lowfat, or regular
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
10 basil leaves
1 clove of garlic, roughly chopped
1 scallion (white and light green parts), roughly chopped
1/2 jalepeno pepper, cored and minced
2 ice cubes
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar, more to taste
Ground black pepper to taste.

Place tomatoes, yogurt, olive oil, 6 basil leaves, garlic, scallion, jalepeno, ice cubes, salt, vinegar, and black pepper in a blender. Purée until smooth. Taste and add more salt and vinegar, as necessary.

Pour the soup into two bowls and garnish with olive oil and the remaining four basil leaves. Give it a good grind of fresh pepper.

Originally posted on Wednesday, August 25th, 2010

  • http://themanhattanfoodproject.wordpress.com/ elizabeth

    One of my favorite cookbooks has two recipes for gazpacho in it (one with all of the normal garnishes and one without) and out of sheer laziness I went with the garnish-free version…and I LOVE it. Tomatoes, red peppers, red onion, bread, sherry vinegar, olive oil, pimenton de la vera (my new favorite spice), some kosher salt and either V8 or tomato juice–working in batches everything gets pulverized in the blender. I love it because it’s so bold and it’s relatively quick to make.

    This recipe intrigues me–I think I’d use Greek yogurt instead of plain and use white balsamic vinegar over red wine. I might need something easy later this week–this is going in my saved recipe file.

  • http://www.alittleginger.com Maddie

    That heirloom tomato is gorgeous. I got a similar-looking yellow one in my CSA last week, and it had the same, surprising red stripe on the inside.

    It’s weird, but I laughed when I cut it open; I just wasn’t expecting it to look like the way it did. It’s the little things in life, you know?

  • Caitlyn

    I made this last night — delicious!

  • Anonymous

    interesting

  • Lisa

    Willy made this for a celebratory dinner tonight, and it was superb: he said he upped the garlic and jalapeño (the man knows his audience!) and we were both verrry satisfied.  Thanks!!