100 Foot Diet Gazpacho

One of my friends mentioned they were drowning in tomatoes recently. We've been having the same problem, and have harvested 10 pounds or more in the last couple of days since the heat came in. We have made short work of them, and I said, "What about gazpacho?"

He asked for a recipe, so here is ours. We hope you have a chance to try it if you ever find yourself in the enviable predicament of having too many tomatoes in your garden!

Take:

2 1/2 lbs of fresh-picked tomatoes
and divide in half. Put half in a blender with
1 red or green pepper, coarsely chopped
1-2 mildly spicy peppers such as a japalpeno or shishito, seeded
1/2 of a medium cucumber, peeled and seeded
1/4 cup of fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup of olive oil
1 tsp of salt
Fresh ground pepper
And puree until smooth. Take the remaining:
1 1/4 lbs of tomatoes, finely chopped
1/2 of a medium cucumber, peeled, seeded, and finely chopped
And mix with the puree. Put in the refrigerator for at least an hour to chill, and serve with a fresh baguette.

If you're in a rush you can skip the finely chopped tomatoes and cucumbers and just puree the lot. Add them after you've pureed the first batch as there won't be enough room in the blender until you do. 

Also, if you want to eat sooner put some in 1 cup mason jars in the freezer for a half-hour, they will chill faster. Just don't forget they are there or you will have a bit of a mess to clean up!