I would like to face the fact that summer is over. In fact, fall is my favorite season in places that actually have an autumn. It may not have been 88° on Halloween where you live, but you can still enjoy a taste of summer. I suggest serving this with your favorite tummy-warming Southwestern entrée and a few temporary clicks of the thermostat.

Last Gasp Gazpacho

2 lbs. ripe tomatoes, cored and quartered (see note)

2 medium red bell peppers (about 1 lb.), cored, seeded and cut into rough chunks (1 in.)

2 small cucumbers, seeded, one with skin, one peeled, roughly chunked

½ small Vidalia (or other sweet) onion, peeled and minced

2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed

2 tsp. salt

1/3 cup sherry vinegar

black pepper

5 cups tomato juice (use V8 or other veggie juice if you like a sweeter, more complex flavor)

dash up to 1 tsp. Sriracha or other sweet hot sauce (optional)

1. Using the blade attachment of a food processor, process tomatoes only until they are broken down to your desired size. I use about 6-8 pulses of my processor for ¼ – 1 in. chunks. Transfer to a large bowl that can be sealed later. (Good quality plastic wrap is okay.)

2. Process peppers and cucumbers separately in the same way, dumping them in with the tomatoes when finished.

3. In the large bowl with your veggies, add the onion, garlic, salt, vinegar and ground pepper to taste. Allow to stand about 5 minutes until vegetables begin to release their juices.

4. Stir in tomato juice, Sriracha and ice cubes. Cover tightly and refrigerate to mingle flavors – at least 4 hours. This will keep up to 2 days.

5. Adjust seasonings with salt and pepper, remove any ice and serve very cold.

Note: I use Campari tomatoes, which come in handy 2 pound packages like this at Sam’s pretty much year-round:

If you’d like to get very fancy, try floating a little island of avocado crema in your bowls.

Avocado Crema

1 ripe avocado, peeled, pitted and chopped
¼ cup buttermilk
juice of 1 lime
¾ cup sour cream
½ tsp salt

1. Put the avocado in a blender with the buttermilk and lime juice. Puree until very smooth, adding some of the sour cream if necessary to create a smooth puree.

2. Scrape the avocado puree into a bowl, add the sour cream, and whisk well to blend. Stir in the salt.

3. You can use a funnel to pour this into a squeeze bottle, drizzle it on with a zip-top bag with the corner clipped off, or just stick a spoon in it and dollop some on top.

This is a non-avocadoed bowl. Still mighty tasty!

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all photos copyright © 2009 by jodi a. kasten • all rights reserved

Gazpacho recipe is a modified version of “Quick Food Processor Gazpacho” from cooksillustrated.com
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