#VeggieDag Thursday: Gazpacho on a summer day.

The muggy weather broke (a bit) this week, but it's still beastly hot. Gazpacho can be the summer anodyne: spicy, chilled tomato vegetable soup.

Make it from scratch, or 'cheat' and use store-bought tomato juice as the base liquid. The keys are to buy good, low-sodium juice (you can always add salt if you need to) and, of course, fresh vegetables.

INGREDIENTS

• Tomato Juice (low sodium)
• Medium Tomato
• Cucumber
• 1/2 White Onion
• Roasted Garlic
• Jalapeño(s)
• Bell Pepper (1 red, 1 green)
• 2 Tomatillos
• Corn
• 1 Celery Stalk
• Cilantro
• Lemon Juice
• 1/4 cup EVOO
• Malt Vinegar
• Vegetarian Worcestershire Sauce

PROCEDURE

• Slice 3 or 4 garlic cloves lengthwise, making thin crescent-shaped slices. Roast at 400* F for 15 minutes for a firm texture or 20-30 minutes for a softer texture.
• Remove and discard the husk from a corn cob. Boil the cob for 5 minutes, just covered in water. Reserve the corn water. Allow corn to cool; then slice kernels from cob.
• Remove and discard the husk from the tomatillo. Gently scrub the outside of the fruit to remove the sticky residue. Dice.
• Slice the jalapeño in half lengthwise, scrape out the seeds, and discard. Chop. (I use latex gloves to keep the pepper oil off of my fingers.) Two jalapeños for a spicier soup.
• Chop the bell peppers, tomato, cucumber, onion, cilantro.
• Add chopped vegetables, garlic, onions, and corn to the tomato juice. Stir.
• Remove 1/3 of mixture and blend. Mix the puree back into the soup.
• Add reserved corn liquid into soup less a little at a time, until desired consistency is achieved
• Add lemon juice, vinegar, and Worcestershire sauce to taste. (Less is better; you can always add more later.) Mix into soup with olive oil. Mix (not blend) well.
• Cover and place in refrigerator to cool for a couple of hours or overnight.
• Serve topped with a sprig of cilantro, and accompanied with a nice cold glass of Witbier.

VeggieDag Thursday is an occasional Thursday post
on an animal-free diet and envfironment and ecological issues.

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