It's heirloom tomato season! Laura Avery chats with chefs Josiah Citron of Melisse and Mark Peel of Campanile, who wax poetic about gazpacho. This delicious, cold, summery tomato-based soup is more than 60% tomato, and 40% everything else - cucumber, onion, bell pepper, garlic. Use acidic heirlooms, or if you can't find them, use a splash of vinegar. Season as you would a salad. If you want to spice it up, add some marinated shrimp!
Maryanne Carpenter talks about her tomatoes - she's got eight varieties of cherry tomatoes, and her heirloom tomatoes should be ready in a few weeks. They're perfect in a salad or sliced on a sandwich.
Gazpacho
- 10 oz of bread
- 21 oz of tomato
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 2 onions
- 2 red and green peppers
- 1 cucumber (optional)
- 7 Tablespoons of oil
- 2 Tablespoons of vinegar
- 1 1/2 Tablespoon of water
- Cumin (optional)
In a big mortar mash the cumin, the garlic and the soaked bread, in a plastic bowl mix the chopped onion, the chopped tomato, the oil, the vinegar, the salt and the contents of the mortar, mash it with the mixer and add very cold water to mix everything. Add salt and strain it. Keep it in the fridge until served.
Serve with the tomato, the cucumber, the pepper and the toasted bread cut to dices.