Fresh Tomato Gazpacho

I had lunch with my aunt last week, and was lamenting the fact that I almost had more tomatoes than I could handle. Every day I was having some form of fresh tomato, and while I thoroughly enjoyed every dish I’d made with them, I was growing weary of tomatoes. She happened to mention a recipe for gazpacho that she enjoyed, that, it turned out, was conveniently located within the food-stained pages of one of my all-time favorite cookbooks, St. Louis Days St. Louis Nights. I looked it up, and, using it as a guideline, was off and running. Magnificent! I used a variety of toppings, and, depending upon my mood, used everything from chopped chives and chopped parsley, to homemade croutons and feta, to sour cream and pesto. You can’t mess this up; it is an excellent, tasty, and cooling way to start any meal.

Fresh Tomato Gazpacho

1 clove garlic, cut into quarters
1 Melissa’s shallot, peeled and quartered
½ fresh red or green bell pepper, cut in half
½ cucumber, peeled and quartered
4 large tomatoes, peeled and quartered
½ t. salt
¼ t. Melissa’s Lemon Pepper
1 T. good olive oil
3 T. red wine vinegar
1 c. Cucumber Dill Bloody Mary Mix

Place all ingredients as haphazardly as possible into the work bowl of a food processor. Blend until thoroughly combined, 10 to 15 seconds.

Chill and serve topped with the garnish of your choice. (Here I used sour cream, basil leaf, a small slice of cucumber, and ground Melissa's Red Hatch Chile Pecans.)

Serves 8 (Unless you’re me, and then it only serves one.)

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