Gazpacho making 101 with MKelevate

We LOVE Gazpacho, and our favorite is made by our friend Mar at Emanar Cellars in Battle Ground, WA. We try to make it over there as often as possible in the summer to get our fix and to have some of their amazing wine. We also always get an order of Gazpacho ‘to go’ so we can have that amazingly healthy and delicious soup at home the next day….if it makes it that long.

We decided that it was time for us to try our hand at the soup. It is that time of year when tomatoes are plentiful, so we decided to give it a whirl. Also, if we could make our soup half as good as Mar’s, it would be a success.

There is a lot of vegetable chopping that is required in making Gazpacho.  All those chaturangas sure came in handy!! We chopped! We seeded! We peeled! …and the onions made us laugh and cry.

We changed up the recipe to suit our fancy and used half vegetable juice and half vegetable broth. When we noticed the recipe called for so much V8 juice-we agreed that adding broth suited our taste buds just a bit better.

We then put everything into a big soup bowl and had a decision to make.  To blend or not to blend. That was the question! We take our food very seriously, as in we loooove good food. We decided to have a small cup of the non-blended soup before making any drastic decisions. 

It was good, but not like Mar’s soup, so we then used the immersion blender.  Oh, yea that was it!!!! 

So, whether you already love Gazpacho or are a little leery of ‘cold soup’ we think you should try it.  Don’t knock it until you try it, as they say! 

*We doubled the recipe so we each could put a little extra in the freezer for a taste of summer later this fall.

Gazpacho Recipe borrowed from Preserving the Harvest

6 Medium tomatoes, peeled, cored and chopped

5 Cups vegetable juice, or 40 Oz Canned (We used ½ V8 Low sodium and ½ vegetable broth)

2 Medium cucumbers, peeled, seeded, and chopped

1 large green bell pepper, seeded and chopped

1 stalk celery, chopped

1/3 cup red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon fresh dill chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon hot pepper sauce (Cholula)

¼ teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

1.       Combine all ingredients and toss until the vegetables are evenly coated with oil, vinegar and herbs

2.       Pour into two 1 1/2 -quart freezer bags. Seal, label well, and freeze up to 3 months.

3.       To serve, thaw in the refrigerator overnight and store chilled.  It will keep for 3 days thawed in the refrigerator.

One-Cup serving size:

 Calories               93

% from fat           27

Carbohydrates  16g

Fiber                      3g

Fat                          3g

Cholesterol         0mg

Sodium                 668mg