Gazpacho with lots of tomatoes

August 19, 2016 by Joskates 7 Comments

So my sons are both out of elementary school, but I maintained my loyalty to their former school’s spring plant sale anyway (a decade’s worth of habits die hard). One of the things I bought was a six-pack of different tomato plants.

Now I know that six tomato plants is too many, even for a family that likes tomatoes. My older son used to just eat cherry tomatoes like candy. As a toddler, I would take him to the local co-op, put him in the grocery cart seat and give him a carton of organic cherry tomatoes to munch on while we shopped. Still, in past years I’ve limited myself to just two plants of heritage tomatoes from the farmer’s market. Plenty.

But this year the combination of winter and the tempting array of tomatoes in the pictures (Big Boy! Super Sweet! Those cool yellow ones!) on the order form was too much for me. And now I am seeing the consequences of my lack of restraint. So many tomatoes, all ripe at once. I filled up a big colander just a few days ago and will need to go out again very soon.

So what does this have to do with skating? Biting off more than I can chew? Too many things to work on? Actually not much, but I wanted to share my gazpacho recipe. It’s adapted from an old copy of The Colorado Cache Cookbook that I got many years ago.

Gazpacho with lots of tomatoes

2-3 big tomatoes
1 cucumber
1/2 c. or more green onion
1 green or red or yellow or orange pepper
2 avocados (I didn’t have these, but it was just fine without them)
1 cup celery (I’m not a fan of celery, so just left this one out too. Just fine.)
Lots of other tomatoes (the recipe calls for 4 cups of tomato juice, but I just threw all these tomatoes into the food processor instead. Slightly chunkier consistency, but really tasty.)
4 Tablespoons olive oil
5 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons salt
a dash or two of black pepper
Chop up the first six ingredients into pretty small pieces (especially the green pepper), then add the others and chill.

Yes, it’s that easy, aside from the chopping. And it’s great for a hot summer day, as if skating weren’t chill enough.