Karl’s Yellow Gazpacho

I finally have a little time to start surfing through the sites of the people who have liked my recipes in the past three years. I have religiously kept track of everyone who has ever “liked” one of my recipes, but I have had little time to do more than just visit their “about” pages. This summer, I have been working my way through other people’s recipes. When I saw Caitlin’s recipe for Yellow Gazpacho I knew I had to do something like it.

Karl’s Yellow Gazpacho

The kids are on the Atkins diet, so I could not use her recipe—which uses bread, but the idea of a gazpacho that was not red was very appealing. I adapted an Epicurious recipe to my tastes—more of this, less of that. With all of the “wet” vegetables, I worried that the final product would turn out soupy and thin. Actually, it came out quite thick and satisfying.

Note: I made this dish to go with my Salt and Pepper Tri-tip this Fourth of July weekend.

After Dinner Note: Jan—who is a gazpacho aficionado—loved this.

Ingredients

4 medium yellow beefsteak tomatoes (about 2 pounds)

1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and coarsely chopped
1 English cucumber, peeled , seeded, and coarsely chopped
½ medium sweet onion, coarsely chopped
¼ tsp. Kosher salt

1 small garlic clove, mashed to a paste
¼ cup olive oil
¼ cup sherry vinegar
½ tsp. white pepper

1 tsp. fresh snipped chives

Directions

1. Cut the tomatoes in half along the equator and remove the seeds to a small bowl.

2. Put a fine mesh strainer on top of a standing blender and place the tomato seeds in it and press the tomato jelly through the sieve with a spatula.

Tip: Discard the seeds.

3. Pare the tomato, removing the tough white cores and any blemishes on the skin.

4. Chop the tomatoes and put them in a large bowl with the pepper, cucumber, onion, and salt.

5. Toss to distribute the salt and let the mix stand for 20 minutes.

Tip: Toss again every five minutes to redistribute the brine.

6. Put about half of the vegetables in the blender and add the garlic, oil, vinegar, and white pepper.

7. Process the vegetables until they are well puréed.

8. Put a medium mesh sieve over a bowl and—working in batches—press the purée through the sieve using a spatula.

Tip: Knock anything remaining in the sieve back into the blender.

9. Purée and strain the rest of the vegetables.

10. Whisk the gazpacho—to blend the batches—cover, and chill for at least one hour.

11. Whisk the gazpacho once more and transfer to a serving bowl or individual bowls.

12. Garnish with snipped chives and maybe some fresh cracked black pepper.