When it’s too hot to turn on the oven, gazpacho to the rescue! Loaded with vegetables and spiked with fresh lime and vinegar, this chilled summer soup is so refreshing. Note: It does require a fair amount of chopping but it yields a ton, and because there’s no cooking, it’s done when the chopping is complete.
Last month for two weeks in a row, I received watermelons in my CSA. Though they were small, I hesitated from cracking into them, fearing I wouldn’t finish them on my own. So I let them sit for a few days until I received a fortuitous email from the Fair Food Farmstand.
Emily Teel, the manager, sends an email each week listing the products the stand has in stock along with some seasonal recipes. When I saw the recipe for watermelon gazpacho, I set to work in the kitchen. Before too long, I had found a wonderful use for my two sugar baby watermelons, and produced a most delectable soup that I enjoyed, with the help of my sister, for the next few days.
While my sister and I slurped this minty, refreshing soup straight from the Tupperware containers I had packed it in, this gazpacho really deserves a more honorable presentation: The combination of colorful vegetables of all shapes and textures floating in a magenta base is truly striking. Served with a wedge of avocado and a sprig of mint in delicate bowls, this chilled soup is a refreshing and elegant summer meal.
How to Make Watermelon Gazpacho
Gather your ingredients and chop them up.
Combine all of the ingredients into a large bowl and chill for at least 1 hour before serving.
Garnish with chopped avocado, if you wish, and serve in small glasses…
… or larger soup bowls.
Watermelon + Feta
When I first saw feta paired with watermelon, I thought the combination seemed odd, and truthfully, not that appetizing. But sweet and salty ingredients often work nicely together, watermelon and feta being no exception. Only a few more weeks of watermelon season remain, so enjoy them while you can!
Watermelon and Feta Salad Serves 1
4 slices watermelon 2 ounces feta cheese 2 slices Prosciutto di Parma extra-virgin olive oil aged balsamic vinegar or reduced balsamic (see recipe below) kosher salt and pepper to taste
Place watermelon wedges on a plate. Crumble feta cheese over the watermelon. Lay the prosciutto aside the watermelon. Drizzle entire plate with olive oil, balsamic, salt and pepper to taste.
Reduced Balsamic Yield = ¼ cup
½ cup Rainwater Madeira 1 cup commercial balsamic vinegar 1 tablespoon brown sugar
Place Madeira in a small saucepan and simmer over medium heat until reduced to about 1 tablespoon. Add the balsamic vinegar and boil until the vinegar has reduced to about ¼ cup and is very syrupy and big shiny bubbles are forming at the surface. Watch the mixture very closely at this point—it will burn easily. Remove from the heat and stir in the brown sugar until dissolved. Pour into a clean jar and cool before using.
Description
Adapted from Emily Teel, manager of the Fair Food Farmstand in Philadelphia
Watermelon: You’ll need a watermelon large enough to give you 4 cups of diced fruit and 5 cups of purée. A small-ish watermelon should suffice.
- 1 watermelon roughly 5 lbs, peeled, see notes above
- 1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, diced (about 2 cups )
- 1 red bell pepper, seeded, diced (about 1.5 cup )
- 1 pint yellow cherry or sungold tomatoes, halved (about 2 cups )
- 1 small jalapeño chile, seeded, minced
- 4 pale green inner celery stalks, diced (about 1 cup )
- ½ small red onion, diced (about 1 cup )
- 1/3 cup fresh lime juice, from about 3 limes
- 2 to 4 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar (or any vinegar you have on hand)
- 1 teaspoon flaky sea salt, such as Maldon, or more or less to taste
- a few sprigs of mint
- avocado, optional, for garnish
- olive oil, optional, for garnish
- Puree enough watermelon in a blender or food processor to yield 5 cups watermelon purée. Dice enough watermelon to yield 4 cups. Transfer purée to a large bowl. Add the diced watermelon, cucumber, peppers, tomatoes, jalapeño, celery, onion, lime juice, 2 tablespoons of the vinegar, salt, and mint sprigs. Stir to combine. Taste. Adjust with more lime, vinegar, or salt to taste. Cover gazpacho and refrigerate until cold, at least 1 hour and up to 4 hours.
- Remove gazpacho from fridge. Taste. Adjust seasoning again if necessary. Divide gazpacho among bowls. If garnishing with the avocado, dice it up, and top each bowl with diced avocado. Drizzle with olive oil if you wish.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Soup
- Method: Mix, No-Cook
- Cuisine: American
Description
Adapted from Emily Teel, manager of the Fair Food Farmstand in Philadelphia
Watermelon: You’ll need a watermelon large enough to give you 4 cups of diced fruit and 5 cups of purée. A small-ish watermelon should suffice.
- 1 watermelon roughly 5 lbs, peeled, see notes above
- 1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, diced (about 2 cups )
- 1 red bell pepper, seeded, diced (about 1.5 cup )
- 1 pint yellow cherry or sungold tomatoes, halved (about 2 cups )
- 1 small jalapeño chile, seeded, minced
- 4 pale green inner celery stalks, diced (about 1 cup )
- ½ small red onion, diced (about 1 cup )
- 1/3 cup fresh lime juice, from about 3 limes
- 2 to 4 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar (or any vinegar you have on hand)
- 1 teaspoon flaky sea salt, such as Maldon, or more or less to taste
- a few sprigs of mint
- avocado, optional, for garnish
- olive oil, optional, for garnish
- Puree enough watermelon in a blender or food processor to yield 5 cups watermelon purée. Dice enough watermelon to yield 4 cups. Transfer purée to a large bowl. Add the diced watermelon, cucumber, peppers, tomatoes, jalapeño, celery, onion, lime juice, 2 tablespoons of the vinegar, salt, and mint sprigs. Stir to combine. Taste. Adjust with more lime, vinegar, or salt to taste. Cover gazpacho and refrigerate until cold, at least 1 hour and up to 4 hours.
- Remove gazpacho from fridge. Taste. Adjust seasoning again if necessary. Divide gazpacho among bowls. If garnishing with the avocado, dice it up, and top each bowl with diced avocado. Drizzle with olive oil if you wish.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Soup
- Method: no-cook, Mix
- Cuisine: American
Find it online : https://alexandracooks.com/2007/09/06/watermelon-gazpacho-watermelon-salad/
This week the Fair Food Farmstand came through again with another excellent recipe in their weekly email. A few weeks ago, after receiving eight Roma tomatoes (among many other treats) in my CSA, I opened my email to find Ann Karlen’s “tried and true” recipe for oven-dried tomatoes, just the guidance I needed to preserve these seasonal gems.
The recipe required six to eight hours of cooking, so I set the oven to 200ºF, as instructed, placed the prepared tray of tomatoes inside, and went to bed. I could not believe my eyes when I opened the oven door the following morning: The plump, juicy tomatoes had shriveled into desiccated, flat disks. Seeing the dehydrated tomatoes reminded me of lifting the towel from the bowl holding the first batch of bread dough I had mixed and kneaded on my own: Doubled in bulk, seemingly alive, the dough — the transformation of the dough — inspired true amazement.
I had to try one right away. To my surprise, this withered red package tasted incredible! Unable to resist storing my homemade “sun-dried tomatoes” — my intention when I set out to make them — I assembled a little bruschetta. On a toasted baguette from Metropolitan Bakery, topped with a slice of mozzarella from Claudio’s and a basil leaf from the farmstand, these tomatoes make a delectable appetizer — the most coveted tastes of summer concentrated in one bite.
Description
Plan ahead! These tomatoes cook in a 200ºF oven for 10 to 12 hours.
- 12 plum tomatoes
- kosher salt
- 1 baguette or other good bread
- olive oil
- good cheese cut into slices
- fresh basil
- sea salt for finishing
- Preheat oven to 200ºF. Halve each tomato lengthwise through the stem. Arrange the tomatoes, cut side up, side by side on a rimmed cookie sheet. (Tomatoes should not be touching one another.) Sprinkle each tomato lightly with salt.
- Place in the oven and bake for six to eight to twelve hours—tomatoes should be shriveled, but not dry and brittle. The tomatoes should still feel flexible when removed from the oven. Remove tomatoes from the oven, and let cool completely before storing. Store in a glass jar. Moisten with olive oil if tomatoes are too dry. The tomatoes will keep indefinitely.
- For the toasts, preheat the oven to 400ºF. Slice the bread into ¾-inch thick rounds, drizzle with olive oil and bake until golden (or fry in a skillet), about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool. Top each bread slice with a piece of cheese, a few oven-dried tomatoes and a few small leaves of basil. Taste. Season with a pinch more salt if necessary and a splash of vinegar if you wish. Serve.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 hours
- Category: Condiment
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian, American
