Yellow Gazpacho

What do you eat to give your body time to recover from gorging yourself on meat at Meatopia?  In our case, you eat the soup equivalent of salad - gazpacho.  And not just any gazpacho.  You run to the farmers' market in the morning to pick up yellow beefsteak tomatoes to make a yellow gazpacho.  Why do you do that?  I'm not really sure, but I wanted to do it so I did.  This gazpacho should complete a gazpacho trifecta - we have already made traditional red gazpacho and white gazpacho (which was really pale green gazpacho and not a traditional white gazpacho with grapes and almonds).  Now all we have to make is some sort of melon gazpacho and maybe the traditional white gazpacho and we will have covered all of the different colors and types of gazpacho.  But that is going to have to wait for another day because we were all about the yellow gazpacho today.  My favorite thing about this gazpacho was probably the hint of sweetness from the orange.  Don't add too much Tabasco or it will obscure that flavor.  I also thought it was just really fresh.  Was it my favorite of the gazpacho recipes we have tried?  I'm honestly not sure.  But I can say that it was cool, refreshing, and perfect on a day like today.

Recipe after the jump!

Yellow Gazpacho

Adapted from Gourmet

August 2008

INGREDIENTS:

1 navel orange

4 medium yellow beefsteak tomatoes (1 3/4 pounds), coarsely chopped

2 large yellow bell peppers, coarsely chopped

1 (3/4-pound) cucumber, peeled and coarsely chopped

1 small sweet onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, chopped

3/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup Sherry vinegar

1/4 teaspoon hot sauce such as Tabasco, or to taste

finely chopped fresh chives and cucumber, for garnish

homemade croutons, for garnish (chop bread into 1-inch cubes, drizzle with a little evoo, sprinkle with kosher salt and toast in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes)

Cut off and discard peel, including white pith, from orange with a sharp knife, then cut orange into 1-inch pieces. Stir together with remaining ingredients and 1 teaspoon salt.

Working in batches, purée in a blender until smooth, about 30 seconds per batch. Whisk, then season with salt and chill, covered, 1 hour. Don't add too much salt at this point because the flavors will intensify and marry while the soup hangs out in the fridge.  Whisk and season with additional salt (if necessary) before serving.

Serve gazpacho garnished with chives, cucumber and croutons.