7/15/12

Green Gazpacho

Hope y’all don’t mind back-to-back green posts. And to the frog who sang the words: “It’s not easy being green,” I would like to submit this gazpacho as evidence to the contrary. Not only did I find it eons easier than last summer’s white gazpacho, which almost broke my blender, but I also found it a lot less fussy than the yellow version of two-summer’s-ago. The green one’s sole challenge lies in the gathering of ingredients, but once you’ve dragged everything home and washed all the produce, dinner comes together in as long as it takes you to put it in your blender and then encourage that blender to blend. (My blender, much like its owner, needs encouragement, otherwise it’s liable to cop an attitude and be like: “There’s too much to blend, so I’m not even gonna try for the stuff up top, OK? Did you hear me? Only the bottom stuff is getting blended!”)
Please don’t skip the croutons. The croutons turned this bowl of soup from great to superb, from appetizer to dinner, from amateur to professional, and from completely green, to green with off-white bread chunks.
Which brings us to the portion of the post titled, So, What Else is Going on With You?
Well, for starters, I made that strawberry cake for a friend’s baby shower and realized once again that I love decorating cakes. I even attempted a few icing roses (roses made out of icing), but my icing wasn’t thick enough. Lesson learned!
Secondly, my friend Kara and I started a blog, Grizzly and Golden, a while ago, but are just recently kind of getting the hang of it. Please join us over there sometime and say hello!
Also, I received this sword in the mail. It’s insanely heavy!
Lastly, thanks to an article my pal Jodi sent me, I found this amazing gif-focused gymnastics blog. Aaaaaaaaand, goodnight!

Green Gazpacho slightly adapted (mostly by cutting the recipe in half and leaving out the celery) from Plenty
serves 3

for croutons
2 thick slices of sourdough bread
about 4 tablespoons of olive oil
salt

for gazpacho
1 small green bell pepper, seeded
3 mini cucumbers, peeled
1 slice of stale white bread, crusts removed
½ of jalapeno, somewhat seeded
2 garlic cloves
½ teaspoon sugar
¾ cup lightly toasted walnuts
3 cups baby spinach
heaping ½ cup basil leaves
2 tablespoons of parsley
2 tablespoons of white wine vinegar
½ cup olive oil
2 tablespoons Greek yogurt
about 1 cup water
ice cubes
salt to taste
pepper

To make the croutons, preheat the oven to 375-F. Cut the bread into ¾-inch cubes and toss them with the oil and a bit of salt. Spread on a baking sheet and bake for about 10 minutes, or until the croutons turn golden and crisp. Remove from the oven and allow to cool down.

Roughly chop the bell peppers, cucumbers, bread, jalapeno, and garlic. Place in a blender and add the sugar, walnuts, spinach, basil, parsley, vinegar, oil, yogurt, most of the water, an ice cube or two, the salt and some pepper. (Even though I was halving the recipe, there was no way all of this was fitting into my blender. I ended up blending it in batches, finally adding everything together at the very end.) Blitz the soup until smooth. Add more water, if needed, to get your preferred consistency. Taste the soup and adjust the seasoning.

Lastly, add another cube or two of ice and pulse once or twice, just to crush it a little. Serve at once, with the croutons.

18 comments:

Matthew said...

Yum Yum Yummy Yum.
My favorite gazpachos that we have made, IN ORDER:
1) Yellow
2) GREEN
3) White
4) Red (BORING)

XOXO

Anonymous said...

Ooh another hit! I've been thinking about that gazpacho, but was afraid my blender couldn't handle it. Maybe halving it will help. PS that knife is so cool! what an excellent prize!

AG said...

Whoa. Who are you going to kill first with that cleaver?? WELL DONE!

ileana said...

That is an awesome little sword. Also, all your talk of gymnastics has me thinking I should watch the Olympics. There were posters all around the airport, reminding me of Bon Appetempt!

Cookie and Kate said...

Green gazpacho! I want! As an aside, maybe it's a good thing that I didn't win the Saveur award because meat cleavers kinda creep me out.

Kara said...

1. Who sent that cleaver?!?? It sort of reminds me of the hatchet that Tim deposited in our living room inexplicably last summer. I'm sure someone has an explanation for sending you a cleaver, however.

2. Gazpacho kind of scares me. I'd probably get the hang of it if I lived in a warmer climate. Oh wait. It's Hades over here.

3. Why hello there, Grizz!

4. I love your writing style. So d*mned funny.
xoxo
K

Kara said...

O shoot. Sauveur sent that cleaver. Will you use it?? Will you tell your grandkids about the day it arrived? CONGRATS!

Katherine @ eggton said...

So, I have given up on blenders because they never work for me. Which is code for maybe I went a little heavy on the icy mixed drinks in the last blender, but whatever. Now I just have a food processor that I use for everything. It's really small, and we got it at Home Depot for practically nothing after they told us it was "seasonal." We were like, "Rrrrreally. Seasonal, like sunscreen? And Christmas decorations? Are ALL your kitchen products seasonal and on sale?" Sadly, no. So anyway--blenders. Glad this worked in yours and can't wait to try it in my blender-replacement.

Jessica said...

The green soup and pink cake look completely gorgeous! I want them both.
-Jess

Beth Kirby | {local milk} said...

I love gazpacho. Mine is always... I don't know... disconcertingly frothy? I need to try this. It sounds perfect. And I have just the bread to go with it. Also, I have sword envy. Is that some sort of Freudian thing...?

Amelia Morris said...

Great question!! Will let you know when I decide.



;)

Amelia Morris said...

hahhaahhaaha amazing!

And yes, when Matt saw that I was trying to blend everything, he immediately asked, "Why didn't you use the food processor?"

Mary Anne said...

why you no like celery!!???? poor celery!

Mary Anne said...

that looks GREAT and i want it now! also, next summer you'll have to make a red gazpacho!

also, dang it, you did it to me again, linked to a gymnastics site and i got lost there before i could even finish reading your post. doh!!

Nicole said...

I'm in love with the ice cube floating in the gazpacho. Congrats on your freakin' huge knife! My husband wants one for no rational reason.

Jenny said...

If I hadn't had to turn on my oven to toast the walnuts, it would have been perfect. My batch was heavy on the yogurt and pepper, and was 99% perfect (excepting that whole oven thing. It left me standing in the kitchen with my head thrown back, drinking the remnants from the blender. Well done.

Dylan Taylor said...

Ooh, I have a Latin American themed dinner tomorrow night, and a massive bunch of fresh coriander (cilantro) that needs using. Do you think this would work if I substituted basil for that? Nice blog, I'm a first time reader, but like your balance of sass vs. useful cooking info. If you have a second, please check out mine :) http://lensefare.blogspot.de/

Amelia Morris said...

hmmmm... I don't know! Give it a shot? As for your blog, it's beautiful!! Keep up the good work! p.s I'm from Pittsburgh, the home of Heinz ketchup!