My family, heavily influenced by Italian heritage and cooking, decided long ago that we greatly preferred crunchy textured vegetables and different seasonings in our gazpacho recipes, which are always put together by taste.
Because I make tomato puree/juice and cook, can it, that’s what gets used. cooking the tomatoes before milling or blending denatures an enzyme which causes juice separation. Since the juice is canned in half-gallon mason jars, the recipe reflects this:
•1/2 gallon of tomato juice, or less juice with small-diced fresh tomatoes
•one or two cucumbers (depending on size), peeled and seeded
•1/5 to 1/2 of a sweet onion (depending on size and pungency
•one Sweet pepper, or adjust to what you have or like. Ausilio Thin-skinned Italian
peppers, which are sweet, with a small bit of heat are especially good. However, you’ll
need to grow these yourself! Yellow or orange bells work well for color.
•EV Olive oil to taste
•Fresh basil or basil vinegar, to taste (Basil vinegar is super easy to make and keeps for years.)
•Salt and black pepper, to taste
•Balsamic vinegar, you guessed it, to taste *Use less if using basil vinegar.
•Hot sauce, such as Tabasco or one which does not use cumin or other spices can be added to individual bowls, on top
Coarsely chop the onion, cucumber and pepper and chop to smaller chunks in a food processor, chopping each separately. I chop the onion finer and the cucumber and pepper less so, to retain a crunch, no croutons needed!
Combine and thoroughly mix ingredients and adjust to taste. Since this is not an emulsion style drink, one needs to mix it before serving in bowls, easily done if stored in a big jar, in the fridge; shake and serve. The flavor of cooked tomatoes is different from fresh, somewhat richer.
We’re so fond of this recipe, we don’t order gazpacho in restaurants, we’re always disappointed. If you don’t have fresh tomatoes and want to add some chunky, tomato goodness, you can add some Cento peeled San Marzano tomatoes, chopped by hand, for a luscious tomato boost. There are no better canned tomatoes than Cento!
We’ve even used Apple Cider vinegar and/or a sprinkling of finely-chopped cilantro as toppings. Use what you have; make what you like and enjoy it!
