how to - garden vegetable gazpacho!

i'm determined to start a vegetable garden this summer. i've always grown herbs or tomatoes in outdoor pots. sort of as a test, but also just because i haven't really dedicated myself to a vegetable garden yet. i have lots and lots of flowers, mostly perennials, and they are fairly low-maintenance. so i've decided this will be my year for a bigger garden.

one of the things i'm most looking forward to is stepping outside and picking vegetables straight from the garden for dinner. there's something so grounding about it all and it's something i'm definitely wanting more of in my every day.

luckily i have lots of friends with incredible gardens to learn from. and gazpacho is one of those simple dishes that just reminds me of summertime. 

enjoy!

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INGREDIENTS

6 medium ripe tomatoes

1 cucumber, peeled, halved, and seeded

1 bell pepper, halved, cored and seeded

1 red onion

2 garlic cloves

1 serrano chile

1slice nice white bread, crust removed

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons chopped chives or basil

Ground black pepper

salt

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Chop tomatoes, half of cucumber, half of bell pepper, and half of onion and place in large bowl. Add garlic, chile, and 1½ teaspoons salt; toss until well combined. Set aside.

2. Dice remaining tomatoes, cucumber, and pepper; place vegetables in medium bowl. Mince remaining onion and add to diced vegetables. Toss with ½ teaspoon salt and transfer to fine-mesh strainer set over medium bowl. Set aside 1 hour. The salting of the veggies here is key to really bring out all of the flavors.

3. Transfer drained diced vegetables to medium bowl and set aside. Cut bread into squares and add it and  the liquid that drained from the veggies (there should be about ¼ cup) to the roughly chopped vegetables. Toss it all together.

4. Transfer half of the vegetable-bread mixture to a blender and process for a few seconds. With the blender running, slowly drizzle in ¼ cup oil and continue to blend until completely smooth. Adding the oil slowly is what gives this gazpacho its creaminess. 

5. Strain the soup into large bowl. Then repeat with the remaining vegetable-bread mixture and 1/4 cup olive oil.

6. Stir vinegar, minced herbs, and half of diced vegetables into soup and season to taste with salt and black pepper. Cover and refrigerate for at least a few hours before serving.

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what have you been cooking? i'm looking for new recipes to try in the kitchen this weekend!