Barb’s Best Gazpacho

Servings: 6
Ingredients:

2    Garlic cloves, chopped
5    Juicy medium tomatoes
5    Roma tomatoes, ripe
2 md Cucumbers, English, peeled,
-cut in 1-in pieces
1 lg Spanish or red onion
1 lg Green bell pepper, cored,
-seeded and ribbed
1 lg Red bell pepper, cored,
-seeded and deribbed
2 c  Tomato juice, or vegetable
-juice cocktail
1/4 c  Olive oil, extra virgin
1/4 c  Red wine vinegar
1/2 c  Vodka or vermouth (OPTIONAL)
2 tb Lime juice, fresh
1 tb Worcestershire sauce
2    Glubs Tabasco sauce, or to
-taste
1/4 ts Cayenne pepper, or to taste
1 tb Celery salt, or to taste
Freshly ground pepper
2    Inner ribs celery, very
-finely diced

Number of Servings: 6

homemade garlic croutons (optional)

Core the 5 medium tomatoes and coarsely chop them. Whiz the garlic in a
blender or food processor, add the tomatoes and puree until smooth. Strain
the puree into a large non-reactive bowl.

Coarsely chop 1 of the cucumbers, 1/2 of the onion, and 1/2 of the green
and red bell peppers. Add the chopped vegetables to the processor (if
using a blender, add 1/2 cup of the tomato or vegetable juice as well).
Process until liquified; strain into the large bowl, pressing down with the
back of a spoon to extract all liquid.

Add to the bowl the remaining juice, olive oil, red wine vinegar, vodka or
vermouth if using, lime juice, worcestershire, Tabasco, cayenne pepper,
celery salt and pepper. Stir well. Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours or
overnight.

Finely dice the Roma tomatoes, remaining 1/2 onion, 1/2 green and red
peppers and 1 cucumber. Add the finly diced celery. Reserve, refrigerated
in small mixing bowl.

To serve, ladle soup into chilled individual bowls. Sprinkle with the
chopped vegetables and croutons, if using.

Note: If this is just for the family, I toss all of the diced vegetables
right into the soup as it’s chilling (it doesn’t last long enough for the
veggies to get limp). And I might go to the trouble of making croutons, or
maybe not.

Posted by Barb Burgess. Courtesy of Fred Peters.