Gazpacho with a kick!

You guys might remember me talking about my upbringing with my beloved adoptive mom, who, God bless her . .  was just not a foodie. She wasn’t TERRIBLE, mind you – I didn’t have to worry about her giving dinner guests food poisoning the way Ruth Reichl described in her memoir “Tender at the Bone”, but she simply wasn’t a food lover the way I was, and the way Donna also was, I was later thrilled to discover.

But that doesn’t mean she didn’t have a few delicious things up her sleeve – and one of them was gazpacho. This cold tomato soup from Spain isn’t something you’d think your average American kid would like, but I absolutely devoured it. Mom made it by the vat every summer, and thus, every summer I look forward to making it myself.

We called it “liquid salad”, and though that makes it sound a bit less appetizing than it actually is, it’s a fair description of the raw veggie content. I can’t think of a more healthy recipe, for the life of me, and it’s one that can be dressed up with any number of garnishes. Also? Easy. SO EASY. This is my own definitive version, having tweaked it for literally decades now. Read the rest of this entry →