Chilled Soups Part 2
Channel: Ellen Touart-Grob
Date: 2020-08-17

Join Chef Ellen, Resident Chef at Land's Sake Farm in Weston, MA, in the kitchen and as she makes two different tomato gazpachos. You can find the recipes below.

Filmed by Larry Grob and edited by Erika Grob. Music is "Occhi di Bambola" by Giovanni Vicari from the Free Music Archive, CC BY-NC.

Gazpacho, to me, is quintessential summer. It’s a dish that we wait all winter to savor and are thankful for the miracle of fresh organic vegetables. Tomatoes are the anchor of gazpacho and using the beautiful heirloom varieties available at your local farm or farmer’s market REALLY makes this dish sing

One of my most dog-eared and cherished cookbooks is The Victory Garden Cookbook by Marian Morash. It’s the companion book to the wonderful WGBH show The Victory Garden that Russell Morash produced and directed. This was the first vegetable focused cookbook I ever owned and I still refer to it regularly and I always turn to it for Gazpacho. Marian advocates for an elegant version of Gazpacho that requires the peeling and seeding of the tomatoes. She says that it’s essential that all of the vegetables be chopped by hand, that the texture is worth the time it takes. I agree. However, many people these days, don’t want to take the time to hand chop everything, let alone peel and seed the tomatoes. So, I’ve created a different method of making Gazpacho for you, utilizing a food processor or blender. 

Quick Gazpacho 
By Ellen Touart-Grob

Yield: Makes 6 servings

Ingredients
3 large ripe tomatoes, cored and cut into eighths (about 4 cups) 
2 large cucumbers, peeled, seeds removed, and roughly chopped (about 2 cups)
1 green bell pepper, roughly chopped (about 1 cup)
1 medium onion or 10 scallions, roughly chopped (about 11/4 cups)
2 to 3 cups bottled organic tomato juice
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 to 2 cloves garlic, peeled and mashed, or put through a garlic press
3 tablespoons (or more) Worcestershire sauce
Kosher salt and pepper to taste
Smoked Paprika 
Chipotle pepper or hot pepper sauce, to taste
Optional:
1 cup croutons, to garnish
2 tablespoons fresh minced herbs (such as basil, thyme, or parsley), chopped

Preparation
1. In a food processor or strong blender, pulse the tomatoes until they are blended but still retain some texture, and have no large pieces remaining. Separately process each vegetable and combine them all together in a large bowl.  Make sure you do not puree the vegetables.
2. Stir in the vinegar, garlic, tomato juice and season to taste with the Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, smoked paprika and chipotle pepper or hot sauce. This soup can take a considerable amount of seasoning. Taste the soup as you add more seasoning – and make sure to use enough salt as it brings out the flavors of the vegetables.
3. Cover and chill thoroughly, for at least 3 hours but preferably overnight. Adjust the consistency as desired with additional tomato juice and check the seasonings and add more as necessary. Optional: add chopped herbs. Serve in chilled bowls with thinly sliced cucumber rounds or croutons as garnish. 

Yotam Ottolenghi’s Tomato & Watermelon Gazpacho
Adapted by Ellen Touart-Grob
Serves 6

Ingredients
4 1/2 lbs (about 20) tomatoes, peeled and roughly chopped 
4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
6 celery stalks, white parts and leaves, finely chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
3 cups seedless watermelon flesh, roughly chopped
2/3 cup tomato juice
1/2 cup basil leaves
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1/3 cup olive oil plus extra for drizzling
Salt & black pepper to season and coarse sea salt to serve

Croutons (Optional)
5 ounces bread, torn into bite sized chunks
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 tsp red wine vinegar

Optional Crouton Instructions
Preheat the oven to 400º and line a sheet pan with parchment paper

Place the bread for the croutons in a bowl, drizzle with the oil, vinegar and 1/2 tsp salt. Put a griddle or frying pan on the heat and then put the croutons in the pan and cook for 2 minutes, turning until all sides are slightly charred and starting to crisp. Transfer from the pan to the sheet pan and place in the oven for about 12 minutes until golden brown and crispy. Set aside to cool.

Gazpacho Instructions
Place the tomatoes, garlic, celery, onion, watermelon, tomato juice, and 3/8 cup of the basil into a blender or food processor, along with 3/4 tsp salt and a good grind of black pepper. Blend until smooth and then with the blender still going add the vinegar and olive oil. Refrigerate until needed.

To serve, pour the soup into individual bowls and top with the croutons. A dollop of crème fraiche, or a tart, plain yogurt would be lovely on top. Scatter the remaining basil leaves over each bowl along with a drizzle of oil. Finish off with some the coarse sea salt, the croutons and serve immediately. 

Adaptations and original recipe by Ellen Touart-Grob