Gazpacho Soup

This is a great gazpacho recipe for anyone who loves fresh summer flavors!

adapted from Moosewood Restaurant

My wife has the original which doesn't seem available any more, but if you like meatless cooking, try any of Mollie Katzen's Moosewood Cookbooks. Not only are they filled with great recipes, the hand lettering make them fun to read.

This is a great summer time recipe when fresh vegetables are readily available. My wife makes a big batch of this every week and we serve it as an appetizer or side dish every other night and we never tire of it.

4 cups cold tomato juice (I use V8 juice)
1 small, well minced onion
2 cups freshly diced tomatoes
1 cup minced green pepper
1 teaspoon honey
1 cucumber, diced 2 scallions, chopped
Juice of 1/2 lemon and 1 lime
2 tablespoons wine vinegar
1 teaspoon each of dried tarragon and basil (if you have fresh, use 1 tablespoon of each)
dash of ground cumin
1/4 cup freshly chopped parsley
dash of Tabasco sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil salt & pepper to taste

Even though everything is going to go into the food processor, you still have to chop up a bunch of the ingredients beforehand. So get out your favorite chopping knives and get cutting.

Process all the ingredients except for the tomato juice in a food processor. Don't over process the ingredients. Then combine that with the tomato juice in a large bowl, cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours.

If you don't have a food processor you can try processing the ingredients in a blender with a little tomato juice. You may have to prepare it in batches.

I like to serve this with a fresh baguette that I also purchase at our Farmer's Market.