There are so many tomatoes and cucumbers ready to pick in the garden these days. It reminded me of an old favorite recipe for gazpacho from The Victory Garden Cookbook by Marian Morash. The book is terrific and suits my cooking style by including tasty, reliable recipes arranged by vegetable. Each section includes some basic recommendations for harvesting, preparing, seasoning, cooking, and storing the vegetable.
This gazpacho is simple, but good. Here's the basic recipe.
Peel, seed, and chop 4 large tomatoes and 2 cucumbers.
Wash and chope 1 large green pepper and 10-12 scallions.
In a mortar, mash 1-2 cloves garlic and 1 t. salt.
Beat in 1/4 C. red wine vinegar and 1/3 C. olive oil.
Combine the dressing with the chopped vegetables and stir in 3 C. tomato juice.
Add 1 -1 1/2 C. water or beef broth.
Season with a dash of hot pepper sauce, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper.
Chill.
Serve cold with slices of cucumber on top.
Note: I don't bother with peeling and seeding the tomatoes.
I just use spicy veggie juice and skip the beef broth and hot pepper.
