2018 Summer Gazpacho

The first time I ever had Gazpacho was in a Spanish restaurant, south of Madison, Wisconsin called La Paella, which has since closed.  We had ordered only wine and several different tapas, one of which being the Gazpacho.  The other gal I was dining with as well as our husbands, tried it, pushed it to center of the table and declared it to be "bad" gazpacho.  Well, naturally, I had to try it, and just loved it!  I finished every bit and practically licked the bowl!  Afterward, I asked to speak to the Chef who had made it.  He would not give me the recipe, but verified each ingredient I guessed, and finally set me straight on all those I hadn't mentioned, but wouldn't give me amounts.  I went home and was able to recreate the recipe almost perfectly!  Mmmmm-Gazpacho-Awesomeness!  Sadly, I either wrote it down and lost it, or never took the time to write it down.  A year later, toward the end of summer, I had ingredients, but no recipe.  I made something good, but not like my La Paella experience.  This continued to experiment and try my hand at this for several years.  Then. . . as fate would have it. . .I was in Madison, many years later, while working for our local police department, for a 3 day seminar.  After the final lecture, which ended way early, I decided to drive back to La Paella and get a big container of that great Gazpacho.  They sold me a HUGE plastic container of it. . .possibly a 1 gallon ice cream bucket, or even larger.  I couldn't WAIT to get home and have some.  Sadly, it was just awful.  WAY too much oil and salt and the flavor was way off.  I couldn't taste the carrot, and I've since determined the carrot is what really sets it apart from other Gazpachos.  Since then, I'm always on the path to create The Perfect Gazpacho!  It's an OCD Quest I'm afraid!  This is my 2018 Summer Harvest Version. . .

6 pickling cucumbers

2 med. garlic cloves

1 lg. purple shallot

½ lg. green pepper

⅓ stalk of celery

1 sm.-med. beet*

3 ripe tomatoes

2 big carrots

2t garlic salt

2t black pepper

½c Tuscan olive oil

3T white balsamic vinegar

tomato juice if needed to thin while blending

Ohh, so interesting!  This turned out well, but nothing like the La Paella version.  I like it, but it wouldn't be everyone's favorite, since the beet really dominated.

*The beet is optional, it's flavor is very aggressive, and without it, the color of the soup would be more green and orange.  I used my blender this time, and it's the consistency of baby food.  I didn't need any of the tomato juice.  If you use a food processor, it'll be chunkier.

Today I had it, as shown, with a squeeze of a sour cream sauce I made.  Sour cream with a little half and half to thin it, then seasoned with fresh ground black pepper, garlic salt, dill - then shake like crazy in a plastic squeeze bottle.  The kind used for catsup and mustard at hot dog stands.  Well. . .stay tuned and do a 'search' here for Gazpacho in a couple weeks, I have another idea for a simpler one, if I can find the right cucumbers! . . . Lin