I could eat quarts of gazpacho all summer long. When I set about making this version, the goal was a gazpacho with great, fresh tomato taste, but even deeper flavor.
The solution was simple: Roast the tomatoes first.
The sweet, layered result is worth the slight extra hands-off time it took to bake them.
Roasted Tomato Gazpacho
12 plum tomatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 seedless cucumbers, skin on, cut into 1-inch chunks
1 red bell pepper, roughly chopped
1 yellow bell pepper, roughly chopped
1 orange bell pepper, roughly chopped
1 red onion, roughly chopped
6 green onions, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
2 to 3 cups tomato juice
3 tablespoons white-wine vinegar
Hot sauce to taste
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Coat a rimmed baking sheet lightly with oil.
Cut the tomatoes in half through the stem and place them cut side up on the prepared baking sheet. Drizzle evenly with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and then sprinkle with sugar and salt. Roast 45 to 50 minutes, until they are lightly caramelized and starting to collapse.
In a large bowl, combine the tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, red onion and green onions.
Add half of the tomato mixture to the food processor. Pulse to chop the vegetables as finely as you would like them in the finished soup. Turn the chopped vegetables into a serving bowl, and repeat with the remaining vegetables. Remove half of this batch of chopped vegetables to the serving bowl, and then let the food processor run for about 20 seconds, until the remaining couple of cups of vegetables are pureed. Add those to the serving bowl. Add the tomato juice and vinegar, as well as hot sauce to taste. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, and up to 2 days. Serve chilled.
Makes 6 to 8 servings.
Food on 07/20/2016