Gazpacho and Parmesan Toasts

Gazpacho

1 large English cucumber, peeled, seeded, and chopped
1 large red pepper, chopped
1 small red onion, chopped
4 roma tomatoes, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 c tomato sauce, canned
1 c water
1/4 c white wine vinegar
1/4 c olive oil
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper, freshly ground

Place each of the vegetables in a food processor, one vegetable at a time. Pulse the processor until the vegetables are cut into small pieces. Do not puree. After processing, place vegetables into a large bowl, along with the remaining ingredients. Mix well, and set in the fridge for at least 2 hrs before eating to let the flavors meld.
Serve with either sour cream or Greek yogurt.

Parmesan Toasts

Rustic Italian bread (or other soft white bread with a crusty-crust!), sliced
2 tbs olive oil
1/4 c parmesan cheese

Preheat the broiler. Brush one side of the bread with olive oil and top with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese. Place on a baking sheet and broil for about 5 minutes, or until the bread begins to toast and the cheese begins to melt.

Gazpacho is the perfect summer refresher. It's healthy, light, cool, and flavorful. The longer gazpacho sits, the better it tends to taste, so this makes a perfect leftovers meal! Since I don't prefer very strong onions, I soaked my chopped red onion in a bowl of cold water for about 5 minutes before I placed it in the food processor. This tends to mute the onion flavor a little, but if you like a strong onion taste, then pass on the soaking! Another nice touch is to finish the soup with a handful of chopped vegetables that did not go through the food processor. This gives a more textured soup and a nice presentation. Unfortunately, I didn't go the extra-mile tonight to chop a few more vegetables for presentations sake...maybe next time!

Since it's been so unbearably hot here for the past few days, this was the perfect meal to cool us off. And, the heat should be breaking later tonight, so it couldn't have come at a better time! We ate our gazpacho with a dolup of Greek yogurt, which provided the perfect balance to the acidity of the tomatoes. The parmesan toasts flushed out this meal a bit giving it a more filling aspect. Yum!

J had a some meatloaf, peas, spinach, and banana. We all ate together. I did give J some Greek yogurt with a taste of gazpacho on his tray. He was excited about the yogurt, but not so excited about the gazpacho!

Blog update: As some of you may have noticed, I have hit a slight roadblock in the updating and reformatting of the blog. To my disappointment blogger does not allow me to post on a second page, so for now "Ask Culinarian?" is on a temporary hold. I will remedy this problem soon, so stay tuned!

Food for Thought: Gazpacho originated in Southern Spain, and it is basically a cold, raw, tomato-based soup. Several variations of gazpacho exist depending upon the region in Spain. It is also eaten in Latin America and Portugal.