Too Hot for Gazpacho?

I know that I just commented on the air being way too thick for me, but I found this recipe and thought it was essential to summertime survival.

There's no better comfort food than soup. We eat it when we're sick, when we're sad, when we get together with our difficult families for holiday dinners... So why can't we enjoy a little soup when we're feeling bothered by the temp outside? Well, no longer do you need to be macho about the weather, just have a nice refreshing bowl of Gazpacho. (Ok, I apologize for that last little bit, but the heat is seriously getting to me.)

Ingredients

5 pounds medium tomatoes, make a shallow cut in the skin of each tomato.

3 cups low-salt chicken broth
3/4 c. finely chopped red onion
2/3 c. fresh lime juice
6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tbs chopped fresh Italian parsley
2 tbs chopped fresh chives
2 tbs chopped fresh cilantro

2 medium avocados (about 1 pound), peeled, seeded, diced
2 serrano chiles, stemmed, seeded, and minced. Make sure to wash your hands, the knife and the cutting board thoroughly after doing this.
2 tbs (about) cold water

4 tbs extra-virgin olive oil


Directions

1. Bring a large saucepan of water to boil. Drop in 3 tomatoes and cook them for about 30 seconds. Using slotted spoon, transfer tomatoes to a plate. Repeat with the rest of your tomatoes. When they're all cool, peel the tomatoes starting at the slit you made in the skin. Cut tomatoes in half horizontally and carefully squeeze out the seeds and the juice. Place tomatoes in processor. Pulse the processor until you get a coarse puree. Transfer it to a strainer and let it drain for 30 minutes. Come back and stir the puree often to get all the juice out.

2. Combine your tomato puree, the chicken broth, the onion, 1/3 cup lime juice, the garlic, parsley, chives, and cilantro in large bowl. Mix gently and season your wonderful gazpacho with salt and pepper. Chill it for about 2 hours or up to 1 day.

3. Blend avocados, chiles, 2 tablespoons water, and 1/3 cup lime juice in a blender until it's smooth. Add salt to your taste and more water if you'd like it to be a little thinner.

Ladle gazpacho into bowls and top with the avocado puree, then a light drizzle of oil.

You can also serve this soup with some tortilla chips around the bottom of the bowl to make a nice star. Put one tortilla chip in the soup just above the avocado puree. If you put the avo puree into a squeeze bottle, you can make a nice design in the top of the soup... start off with a snake or a simple flour.

This recipe makes about six servings. There are a lot of colors going on in gazpacho, so it's nice to serve it in a white bowl.

Enjoy and drink some chilled Chardonnay... or try a Mighty Rita.