Selective Palate

I am a little late on this post. I promised my good friend Kathy along with my father this recipe weeks ago! But to be honest as much as I love to share my recipes I kind of like keeping this 1 to myself. It”s like my secret weapon; if I give it away they will have no reason to invite me over anymore. I kid, sorta.

All three of us love Pâté, M not so much; I get his portion! But its pretty expensive. In fact when you realize what is in it and how easy it is to make it really grates my cheese. I have dreams of making this in big batches and selling it to make my millions, or at least a couple hundred bucks!

So without further ado here is the recipe for 1 of the best creamy pâté ever and the best part is it costs pennies! OK, Kathy you better still invite me over, I do  come with wine!

They wouldn’t wait for me to get my camera! It really is that good.

Recipe: Makes two 1 cup Ramekins.

Pâté:

8 oz chicken or other poultry livers, dark spots removed
1 stick butter
1/2 cup shallots
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 T. cognac ( or other tasty spirit)
1 t. fresh herb minced such as parsley or tarragon or none.
salt and pepper to taste

Aspic:

1/4 cup stock (any good quality will work, I like to make mine with  a veal demi-glace for richness)
1 t. cognac or more to taste (see above)
1 t. sherry or other quality vinegar
1/2 t. gelatin
salt and pepper to taste – sometimes I use rough cracked pepper for texture and taste

Method – Pâté:

Melt 1/2 the  butter over medium heat until just melted, add shallots. Reduce heat and cook until translucent. Add garlic and saute a little longer till fragrant, make sure not brown! Now carefully add the cognac and cook down a few minutes. Season with salt and pepper and add the cream. Simmer for a couple more minutes then add the remaining butter stirring to melt. Take off heat and set aside to cool.

Using your blender puree the raw livers until smooth. Add the shallots and cream mixture and puree on high until everything is completely smooth and pale in color.

Strain mixture through a fine mesh strainer pushing the mixture through with the back of a spoon.

Fill 2 ramekins with the mixture leaving about 1/4 inch room at the top for the aspic.

Transfer (carefully) the ramekins to a deep sided baking dish placed in a preheated 300 degree oven. Cover ramekins tightly with aluminum foil and fill baking dish with boiling water 1/2 way up the side of ramekins. Bake for 30 minutes until pâté is set (like a cheesecake).

Cool to room temperature and transfer to the refrigerator. Once chilled make the aspic.

Method – Aspic:

Combine everything except the gelatin in a saucepan (or microwave) until simmering stir in the gelatin to dissolve. Cool. Once cooled pour on top of the chilled pâté and return to the fridge until the aspic sets up; a couple hours.

Before serving bring to room temperature. Serve with good french bread and wine.

I know it sounds like a lot of work but really you spend more time waiting for everything to cool down than anything else. Plus each ramekin of pâté costs about $1; yup ONE DOLLAR! Compare that to $50/lb in gourmet stores, doesn’t seem like too much work now does it! Also, you get to be creative. Once you have the method down you can switch up the flavors or add textures if you prefer.

By the way I should mention I got inspiration for this recipe from the very lovely Steamy Kitchen; Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!

ENJOY!

It doesn’t happen very often but M and I went grocery shopping a few weeks back. Now I am talking about real grocery shopping not picking up a couple things for dinner. While in the produce department we discovered something I had only heard rumors about. “Could it be?” I said. M asked if it was rotten? I turned to him and said I prefer the term “fermented”. So with that I threw 2 heads of Black Garlic in the cart. I could not wait to get home and open up my treasure.

Then the realization came to me that I have no idea what to do with this! So the package sat there for several days while I researched. I wanted to really highlight this strange new ingredient not just throw it in any old dish. I found 2 recipes off the Black Garlic website that really sounded yummy.

First up was Scallops with Black Garlic and Chorizo. I followed the recipe exactly and it was a perfect appetizer. I might have a drizzled a little olive oil on  top to finish it up but other than that no tweaking. This recipe is so versitile. I could switch out any number of ingredients and come up with a great starter. The Black Garlic shined beautifully. It had such a sweet, mellow taste that complimented the scallops. I could taste garlic but with none of the bite.

Next up was the Mushroom and Black Garlic Risotto. Again I followed this recipe fairly closely; why fix something that is not broken. I did not have vegetable stock on hand, I used chicken stock instead, so it was not vegetarian but neither am I! Again the earthiness of both the mushrooms and Black Garlic worked extremely well together.  Also, I have never added marcarpone cheese to any risotto but HO BOY I highly recomend it! In fact I had never used marscarpone for anything savory but I have seen the light; this stuff is so good! You could put it on a shoe and it would make it taste creamy and decadent.

So the verdict; I really enjoyed it. It was a nice change from your traditional garlic. It was sweet, savory, creamy (yes creamy), earthy and just plain nice. M on the other hand had no reaction. He said it’s fine nothing special. He leans toward the bitter, he loves it when I burn the garlic and black garlic has long lost any bitterness its fresh cooked (burned) counter part has.

So if you happen upon it at your local grocery store I highly recommend trying it if for no other reason than to say you have. If you are really interested I believe the Black Garlic website actually sells it.

Though we haven’t gotten any of the snow the rest of the country has gotten we are still in the dregs of winter. About this time of year is when you start yearning for the warm beaches of the Caribbean. It was with that in mind that I made myself a lunch of fresh Ahi Tuna salad.

Though I live in a small town in northern Vermont I am very lucky that we have a good fish monger who gets their catch early every morning direct from the docks in Portland and Boston. I know how cool is that! On any day (except Monday they are closed) I can get fresh seafood that was swimming less than 24 hours ago! Plus, they are right across the street! I know you are all jealous now, unless  you actually live in 1 of the great port cities then well I am jealous because your catch is most likely cheaper and fresher than mine.

Anyway to get on with the recipe. When I walked into the store I hadn’t yet decided what I wanted for lunch but as soon as I saw that big slab of Ahi Tuna laying in the case I knew that was going to part of my lunch. They also sell fresh japanese seaweed salad so I grabbed a caintainer and to round it off a handful of recently cooked fresh shrimp. When I got home I laid out my finds and then began to rummage around in the fridge and cupboards. And this is what I came up with!

Recipe (for 1 good portion or 2 small):

4 oz sashimi grade tuna, diced
2 -3 oz fresh cooked shrimp, diced
1/2 avocado, diced
1 green onion, sliced
1 tbsp red onion small dice
1 tsp. rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp. mayonnaise (or less, just use as much as need to hold everything together)
1-2 tsp. black sesame seeds
squirt of sirrachi (to taste)
a good pinch of course sea salt (or kosher)
a dash of togorashi (Japanese pepper, if you have it no biggie to leave it out)
1/4 cup seaweed salad

Ok this is too easy; after you get through prepping everything and believe me that is what takes all the time here, you mix everything except the seaweed salad together. Don’t over stir just gentaly fold everything together until incorporated. Place most of the seaweed salad on a plate and top with tuna salad. Garnish with the remainder of the seaweed and sesame seeds. 

You will think you are at a fancy beach resort. Just poor yourself some sparking mineral water or better yet some sparkling wine and you can now pretend your are on Life Styles of the Rich and Famous.   Ok well you don’t have to go that far but you will definitely forget about winter for at least the duration of  lunch.

I love all things dip related. I can make a batch of ranch or vegetable dip and seriously forget about the chips I just need a spoon. However that is not exactly the best thing for your diet. Then I discovered Hummus. This stuff is amazing. Its a meal in dip form. I make hummus in all varieties, from plain to artichoke to festive spinach. But 1 of my favs is roasted red pepper. People who are not hummus fans seem to even like this 1. The creaminess plus the sweetness of the peppers is always a hit.

Recipe:

1 can chick peas, drained
2 roasted red peppers
1/4 cup Tahini
1 clove garlic
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
1/4 – 1/2 cup good olive oil
salt and pepper

So easy, throw everything except the olive oil in a food processor and give it a whirl. With the motor running drizzle in the oil until everything comes together and becomes thick and creamy. Taste and season again if needed. You can make this ahead of time and chill or serve immediately. I like to top with fresh parsley and serve with assorted veggies, pita bread and crackers.

You can whip this up anytime, you can keep these ingredients in your pantry and when unexpected guests show up you have a tasty dip that  won’t kill your diet to serve up. This serves everyone! Vegan no problem! Dairy free, sure! Gluten intolerant, go right ahead! Plus it is good for you. It is rich in heart healthy oil, protein packed beans, loaded with vitamin C. I seriously call hummus my “single girl meal”, if M is away or working late I make a batch of hummus and curl up on the couch with a glass of wine.

Don’t feel limited hummus can take a lot of creativity. So have fun just remember the basics and you’ll be fine.

After all that rich food over the holidays my body is starting to revolt! When I need to “clean house”  I tend to turn to soups, more importantly vegetarian soups. I have made a few over the last few days but 1 of my favorites was a vegetarian split pea. As much as I like pork I decided to leave it out. To replace the much missed fatty, unctuous mouth feel I drizzled on a little good olive oil at the end and it seemed to do the trick. I will say that this recipe, though very tasty was not as sweet as the traditional split pea with ham.

Recipe:

1 – 2 carrots chopped
1 – 2 stalks celery chopped
1 small onion chopped
2 cloves garlic chopped
2 sprigs fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper
1 – 2 T. olive oil
8 oz green split peas
4 cups veggie stock or water

In a sauce pan heat about 1 T. or so of the olive oil and saute the veggies except for the garlic  for about 5-8 minutes. Add the garlic and continue to saute for about another 1 – 2 minutes. Add the stock or water, the thyme, bay leaves and split peas. Give a good stir and leave on medium-low heat for about 1 hour. Test and make sure the peas are soft if not cook for another 20 – 30 minutes. When soft remove the bay leaves and thyme sprigs then blend until smooth. I used an immersion blender but if you have to use a regular blender do it in batches and be very careful that the liquid does not explode! Season with salt and pepper.

Finish in a bowl with a little drizzle of olive oil, a spritz of lemon juice and some course sea salt. I added a dollop of sour cream and some chopped roasted red peppers. The peppers added that missing sweetness. Healthy and tasty, you can’t beat that!

Wow! I didn’t think it was possible but I am so happy that the holidays are over. I know you are all saying that they ended weeks ago, well in this house they last till after M’s birthday on Jan. 7th (he turned the big  3 o !). Since it was such a momentus birthday we had a big surprise party for him and it was needless to say a bit hectic around here.

I have so much I want to tell you all about! I made tones of great things.

Here is a list of some of the things I made over the past few months:

• Duck Pate

• Lobster Mac n Cheese

• Herb Crusted Lamb “pops”

• Crispy Roast Duck with Cabernet Cherry Reduction

• Confit New Potatoes with Rosemary and Garlic

• Sunday Gravy (aka Italian Marinara)

• Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

• German Chocolate Cake

• Sweet Cherry Tartlettes

And what I am most excited about; I rendered my very own duck fat and yes that is what I cooked the new potatoes in! I never knew how easy  it would be.

OK get yourself a nice duck. Trim away all the loose fat and excess skin. I spatchcocked the bird which made it even easier to get at all the fat and skin. In a large skillet place the fat and skin in a single layer and cover with water till just the tops of the fat are showing. Heat pan on medium for about 45 to 90 minutes. As it boils the water will evaporate and you will notice the bubbles will become larger and slower. It will look like a pan of olive oil.

I was cautious and watched it like a hawk; I recommend doing this because if you burn it it will be ruined. As soon as I noticed the larger bubbles I took it off the heat. Once done take the crispy bits of fat out. You can discard but my grandmother would have a fit! She would recommend that you place on a paper towel and sprinkle with salt. In Yiddish this is called Gribenes or Schmaltz. My grandmother was not Jewish but Hungarian and I cannot spell what she called it! But whatever you call it it is tasty. Getting back on track, once you have removed the bits strain the rendered fat through cheese cloth to remove any particles. And what you have left is a beautiful yellowish fat that you can cook with as you would any other oil only it tastes so much better!

If anyone would like the recipes for any of the other foods listed just ask. I’ll either email you the recipe or create a post about!

So I am not a huge fan of tuna from a can in fact I can remember a time when I refused to eat it or even be in the same room with it when it was being consumed because “The smell makes me sick”. Yes, you can say it, I was a snob about it, often referring to it as cat food. But today things are a bit different. I gave it a try (imagine that) and found that it is not so bad. Well the stuff in oil not so hot, but the albacore or chunch light in water not bad and the Italian stuff packed in pretty cans with quality olive oil well that stuff is just pretty darn good! I know I was as amazed as anyone that I would ever say that; but there you have I like tuna from a can!

Anyway that brings me to this great salad I made a few weeks back for M. I even enjoyed a little for myself. I didn’t want to fix the same old tuna fish salad with mayo , something healthier and dare I say it fresh? I had some of that good Italian tuna hanging around so I decided to create an Italian insprired tuna salad. It was one of those lets see what we have on hand kinda deals so I had to rummage through the fridge and pantry. I settled on white beans, olives, red onion, tomatoes, cucumber and fresh basils and oregano from the garden. If I had had capers on hand I would have thrown them in but I was out. Over all a very good salad. Good for you, different, and frankly plain old tasty!

Recipe:

1 can Tonno (tuna) in quality olive oil, flaked, oil reserved
1/2 can cannellini beans (white beans) drained and rinsed
6 chopped olives, such as Kalamata, Niciose, or Cerignolas ( I used all and mixed them together)
1/4  cup chopped red onion
1 small tomato seeded and chopped
1/4 cup chopped cucumber
Fresh basil and oragano to taste
Dressing:
1 small clove garlic minced to a paste ( you should have about 1/2 teas. of garlic paste)
Salt and pepper to taste
Juice of 1/2 lemon and the zest
The reserved olive oil from the tuna

Mix all the veggies and herbs together. In a separate bowl whisk the garlic paste, salt, pepper, lemon juice and zest with the olive oil. Dress the salad with as much dressing as you like.

I like this by itself or atop fresh greens. It makes a great lunch or even a nice light supper served with a bowl of soup, like maybe minestrone!

So my doctor put me on this diet she calls an anti-inflammatory diet or more accurately an elimination diet. In a nutshell (not peanut!) I am on a strick diet whereas I cannot have any wheat, corn, potato, diary, tomato, citrus, red meat, alcohol or peanuts. I am especially not to have anything processed or fried and should use only olive oil or extra virgin coconut oil. In addition, I should eat organic everything when possible. On a whole this is not too terribly hard but what is life without cheese and wine I ask?!

So that brings me to where I am now with experimentation with new foods, a few great recipes and several not so great recipes that I rather not make again. Also, somethings should not be made vegan – Tofutti Sour Cream I am talking to YOU! However, Veganaise you may stay.

Now lets get to the successes! Lately I have been making a lot of stews & soups; this has got M asking very politely for food he can actually, you know CHEW! So last night I made a friendly version of Chicken Marsala. I know the wine, but really 20% alcohol at the most here so I think I am ok.  This could be made without the wine I suppose but then it would not be Chicken Marsala now would it.

I love this dish and I didn’t think I would be able to pull it off with my restrictions to be  honest. I mean butter makes this sauce so velvety I didn’t think olive oil would be able to compete. Well it needed a little help but the dish came out perfect.

Recipe

2-4 boneless chicken breasts ( leave the skin on if you can)
2 cups sliced mushrooms (I love shitake, so I did 1/2 shitake and 1/2 crimini)
1 large shallot or 2 smaller chopped small
3-4 cloves garlic minced
1/2 cup and 1 T. Marsala wine
1 cup and 2 T. chicken broth
1 T. tapioca flour/starch (corn starch works fine here)
2 T. of flat leaf parsley
2 t. fresh sage
1 T. olive oil
2 t. Earth Balance buttery spread (or butter)
salt and pepper to taste

Start by heating your pan and 1 t. fake butter with the olive oil. Pat your chicken breasts dry and season with salt and pepper on both sides. When pan is hot place the breasts skin side down in the hot pan. There will be loud hissing but DO NOT TOUCH THEM! Let them cook for about 5 minutes. Test with your tongs; if the chicken releases from the pan without a fight then you can flip them, if not leave them cook another minute or so. Sear the other side for another 5 minutes or so then remove from pan and cover with foil. In the hot pan add your shallot and stir to coat evenly in the fat. (If you used boneless/skinless chicken you may have to add another T. of oil.) Cook shallots till fragrent about 1 minute and then add the mushrooms. Coat the mushroom with the fat in the pan and let cook for about 2-3 minutes; you want to see a nice color on the veggies. At this point salt and pepper and add the garlic. Cook for about another 30 seconds to a minute and deglaze the pan with 1/2 cup of the wine. Scrape up all the leftover chicken bits from the bottom of the pan, bring to boil and let reduce for a few minutes; this gets all that flavor into each mushroom! Now add 1 cup of  your chicken broth or stock and bring to a boil. While you wait for that mix the starch with the remainder of the broth and stir into the pan. You may not need all of this mixture so do it a little at a time, each time wait for the sauce to come back to a boil to reach full thickness. When you have the desired consistency (should coat the back of a spoon) place the chicken back into the pan (skin side up) to finish cooking. When you are ready to plate add the rest of the (fake) butter, 1 T. of Marsala wine and the fresh herbs to the pan and give a good stir to incorporate everything.

Serve over pasta or rice and ladle the sauce, generously over the chicken. I used quinao pasta which I am quite a fan of. I swear I don’t notice the difference, you just have to be more diligent when cooking it and make sure you keep stirring the pasta while it cooks or it will stick together.

Enjoy!

Last Friday was M and I’s 7th anniversary. We have a tradition that dates back to our first anniversary of a feast of chinese take-out. Back then we had just moved into our very first apartment and we had next to nothing plus new nothing of the area. To celebrate we made a picnic on the floor (no furniture either!) and ate chinese take out. I think back then it cost a total of $18 and for us that was about as far as our new budget could stretch. Ever since it has been the tradition to do that every year. This year for some reason was special to me. 7 years is a long time, at least for me and the whole 7 year itch people always talk about. So I decided at trying my hand at making a Chinese feast myself.

I made our appetizers just like we would order, pan-fried dumplings or pot-stickers, scallion pancakes, and a napa and cilantro salad we had tried at A Single Pebble and loved.

I have made dumplings before but M really likes gyozas and I had gyoza wrappers on hand. So I made a traditional pork dumpling mixture and filled the wrappers. I had never folded in this style before so I You Tubed a video on the technique of folding gyozas. Very helpful! Over all for my first try I think I did well. M even jumped in and folded a couple. He was actually better right of the gate then I was. I jump right in and pick it up as I go and am speedy, M on the other hand studies it then meticulously proceeds; its the perfectionist in him!

Here is the quick recipe of the filling:

1/2 lb ground pork
1/2 cup scallions
1/2 tsp. minced ginger
1 T. soy sauce
1 T. rice wine

Mix everything well and refridgerate for 30 minutes. Then fill dumplings. You don’t have to do anything special, you can pleat them if you like or make little beggers purses, or even just a good seal will work fine. I followed this video for a tutorial and It was very good. I made a simple dressing out of Chinese balck vinegar and soy sauce with a tad of minced ginger. It was nice combination. To cook I fried them in very little oil then added a spoonful of water to the very hot pan and quickly covered. You can do that or steam entirely, deep fry or even boil.

For the pancakes I had never made them before at all and I took a little help for a fellow blogger. What is weird is that I had planned this out, googled and ended up on a site I have been to many times. Then later while surfing Tastespotting this exact post from Appetite for China was featured, how serendipitous! I took her exact recipe but I tried to short cut the pancakes by using a method I had read on a Ming Tsai recipe. Next time I will follow her instructions exactly! They came out good but in trying to make it easier I ended up making it harder I think.

The napa salad was an after thought but a good one. We have had this a few times out and I thought with all the heavy food a nice light salad would be a good idea. It is simply sliced napa cabbage and torn cilantro in a dressing consisting of 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar, 1 T. sugar, 1 T. light oil (I used coconut), a pinch of salt and about 5 drops of sesame oil. I nuke it for 30 seconds to dissolve the sugar/salt and when cool and ready to eat I dress the salad. Its that easy and very tasty; I can eats bowls of this stuff!

We took a brief intermission from eating to clean up, relax and prepare for the next course, Chinese Red Cooked Beef (Chinese Braised Beef) with noodles. Basically its Chinese pot roast. It takes all day to braise and makes the house smell wonderful! It’s a perfect fall dish.

Recipe:

1 1/2 lbs chuck roast or any cheap cut of meat, cut in to bite size chunks
1 cup sliced shitake mushrooms – I used a combination of dried and fresh, the dried I soaked in hot water for 30 minutes and squeezed out the excess water (save the liquid!)
2 carrots sliced on the diagonal
2-3 cloves garlic minced
1 inch (or so) nob of fresh ginger, minced
1 onion chopped
2-3 cups stock, I used a cup of the mushroom water and 1 1/2 cups of beef stock
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice wine or dry sherry if you can’t find rice wine
2 T. brown sugar
2-4 red chilies
2-3 whole star anise
2 cinnamon sticks broken in 1/2
1 T. 5 spice
salt and pepper (minimal)
oil for browning, I used coconut

Start out by prepping all your vege and set aside. Now prep your meat by cutting into chunks and seasoning with salt, pepper, and 5 spice. Set aside. In a large dutch oven heat the oil and stir fry the garlic and ginger for a few seconds until you can smell it. In batches add your meat. You want the meat evenally on 1 layer without crowding the pan. This should take about 2- 3 batches once done remove all meat. In the same pan add more oil if needed, but you shouldn’t, you should have more than enough fat from the beef. To the pan add your onions and mushrooms and saute until you see some color, about a minute or 2. Now add the beef and the remaining ingredients. Make sure the liquid just covers everything. Turn the heat to medium low and bring to a boil then turn the heat all the way low and cook uncovered for about 3 hours or until the liquid has almost completely reduced and the meat is tender. When almost done, about 30 minutes out, add your carrots. What I did here was since I knew I was going to serve it later, when it was done I turned off the heat and added the carrots gave it a good stir then covered until ready to serve. This cooked the carrots just perfectly.

You can serve this over steamed rice but really it is a noodle type of meal. Traditionally you would serve it with thick wonton noodles which are chinese egg noodles. Living in the mountains of Vermont I could not find them so I used fresh parpadelle which worked perfect! I also served this with seared bok choy seasoned with garlic, ginger, and soy sauce and to top everything off a seasonal hard cider that is produced for fall and had a hint of cinnamon in it; it was Woodchuck Draft Fall Cider. It was a perfect pairing.

It was a very nice dinner and definitely a step up from take out, though I did kind of miss it in a nostalgic kind of way.

Up here in Vermont the farming season is already short add to that about 2 months of straight rain and you get a very disappointing tomato harvest. M and I decided to utilize are large yet mostly useless deck to start a container garden. And though fun it was not very prosperous to say the least. I was hoping for bounties of tasty summer tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and herbs but really we ended up with tiny tomatoes with little flavor, 2 small cucumber, and 3 peppers (good news this sudden batch of sunshine has encouraged more peppers!). The herbs came out fine I guess, but not what I had hoped for at all and due to all the rain we had cilantro for about 2 weeks till it all flowered and died; on the other hand it came to seed and I harvested coriander! I still found myself having to go to the farmers market weekly. But that did not stop me from taking what little we harvested and adding that to some farmers market goodies to create my favorite summertime treat; Gazpacho!

For some of you this is the perfect way to end the summer and rid yourself of all those tomatoes you may have *cough-jealous-cough* instead of making jars and jars of tomato sauce you can whip up a batch of this soup. It can last in the fridge for over a week, if its not eaten quicker and you can morph it into all kinds of things; add hot peppers or sauce and you have salsa, blend up into a thick puree and you have a light fresh tomato sauce to toss with pasta, add basil and top bruschetta, I am tellin ya endless possibilities!

Recipe:

3-5 Good sized tomatoes, any variety will work, I used a combo of heirloom and slicing from my garden and a few romas I grabbed at the market; diced
1 cucumber diced
1-2 bell peppers diced green or red, I like the sweetness of the red
1 onion, you can use regular white but I like the sweeter varieties, like bermuda, vidalia and red
2-3 cloves garlic minced
A good splash sherry vinegar or white wine works well here too, about 1/4 cup
About 1/4 cup of good quality olive oil with a little extra to drizzle at the end
1 cup tomato juice or sauce (not seasoned)
1 cup or so beef broth (you can leave this out to make it vegetarian and add either veggie stock, water, or more tomato juice)
A couple good dashes of hot sauce
handfull of fresh cilantro and parsley
and of course salt and pepper

Once you have all your veggies diced up nice take about 2/3 of them and plop them in a blender, I use my stick blender. The point is to puree about 2/3 of the mixture. Now pour all the chopped veggies and pureed veggies in a large bowl and add the remaining ingredients. Just add what you need until you get the desired taste and constancy. If you like your soup thinner you will most likely use all the liquid but if you like a chunkier style like I do you will add less. Play with the vinegar, if your tomatoes are a bit more on the acidic side you may want to cut back but if like me they were a tad bland you may want to kick it up. Also, the hot sauce is to taste feel free to leave it out. We like spicy in this house so I add quite a bit. This is not a science just a basic recipe. It is pretty fool proof if you ask me.

Traditionally, gazpacho uses stale bread but I omit that opting for a crustini along side my soup but the choice is yours. Also, with the bread left out you can morph this into so much more.

Chill this soup over night for best flavors. When ready to serve ladle into cups or bowls and top with a drizzle of good olive oil and a few sprigs of fresh cilantro.

Morphing ideas:

To the leftover soup add chopped olives, capers and fresh oregano and toss with hot pasta.

Add a few more chopped up tomatoes, raw or roasted and a some diced jalapenos for a chunky salsa, or puree further and add chopped chipolte in adobe for a thin smokey salsa.

Add more tomatoes, and fresh basil and top bruschetta for a nice appetizer.

Or puree until smooth adding more tomato juice if needed and mix with vodka for a little twist on a classic Bloody Mary!

You can even freeze this soup! It may not taste as fresh when thawed but in the dead of winter it will be a perfect taste of summer.