Early Girl Gazpacho

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Heat waves are not very common in the San Francisco Bay Area but when they strike we don’t tend to handle them very well. I was lucky enough to time one with a farmer’s market purchase of 25 pounds of dry farmed Early Girl tomatoes (a little over 11 kg). I’d never had this variety before coming to California but now it is my go-to tomato.  The dry-farming allows the flavors to concentrate more which results in some of the most flavorsome tomatoes I’ve ever had.

Since we are relying on fresh, raw vegetables we must also heavily rely on our palates and judgement to guide us. Think of the recipe below as a template, a guide to the final outcome. This soup will really require you to discern whether or not to add more salt, or bread or vinegar… or not!

Perhaps you grabbed a very bitter cucumber? Maybe you couldn’t track down Early Girls and used a different variety that is a bit sour? Was the bell pepper not as sweet as you were hoping? I recommend that you taste all the individual produce components of this soup separately before chucking them into the blender. 

Ingredients

• 2.2 lbs/1kg very ripe Early Girl tomatoes, roughly chopped 
• 1 medium cucumber, roughly chopped 
• 1 medium bell pepper, roughly chopped
• 1 large piece of stale sourdough bread, torn
• ¼ c olive oil + extra for garnish
• 1 Tbsp sherry vinegar
  
• 2 -3 tsp salt
  
• 1 large garlic clove
  
• Optional garnishes: sliced grapes, cherry tomatoes, diced cucumber, bell peppers, bread crumbs, smoked paprika, etc. 

Directions

1. Put all ingredients except garnishes together into a high powered blender. Puree until desired smoothness, pausing to scrape down the sides of the blender from time to time. Taste and adjust seasonings. 
2. Transfer to the refrigerator to cool for at least 3 hours. Serve in chilled bowls, garnishing as desired. 

Serves 5