“Salad in a Bowl”
Ingredients complete and ready to be stirred together.
KPS – Portland, Maine
Summer 2022
This is a simple, cold soup that requires no cooking. It has numerous variations based on herbs, vegetables, and “heat level” through selection of peppers. The blended cucumber (instead of dry bread) as a thickening agent adds to its healthfulness – but limits its refrigerated life to about four days. Substitute English or “burpless” cucumbers if desired.
The seemingly endless search for the both healthy and tasty was the backdrop to every culinary experience in my family. This low-carb and low-fat summer Gazpacho soup was a popular compromise for most soup lovers.
Sides such as crab cakes, melted garlic/cheese on crostini, or fresh bread (with extra olive oil) make less-healthy – but particularly delicious accompaniments.
Ingredients:
- 32 oz. Tomato Juice
- 1/3 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1/4 cup Olive Oil
- 3 Tbs Worcester sauce
- 4 large Cucumbers
- 2 cans Stewed Italian-style tomatos
- 1 (each) Green, yellow, red, bell peppers
- Kosher Salt and fresh pepper
- Thyme, Tarragon, or “Herbs de Province”
- Fresh Basil *
- Sweet Habanero pepper *
- Sour Cream *
- Celery sticks *
* (optional garnishes)
Method:
Purree tomato juice and diced, peeled cucumbers in blender until smooth.
Add canned tomatoes
Blend in a “rough chop” – leaving texture of tomatoes.
Add vinegar, herbs, salt and pepper, olive oil, Worcester Sauce and chopped onions & bell peppers.
Chill overnight for flavors to “mingle”
Garnish with basil, (hot peppers), (sour cream), and serve well chilled.
Pairs beautifully with large French bread croutons (or crostini with melted cheese), a hot crab cake, floating Cantaloupe & Honey-Dew Mellon balls – or as part of a chilled “soup sampler” accompanied by a creamy Vichyssoise.
A whimsical reprise of summer flavors with a Beaujolais Nouveau as the winter palette beckons.
“Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you who you are.”
–Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
Author of: The Physiology of Taste
18th Century French lawyer, politician, and gastronome