Barefoot Bloggers: Gazpacho!

The second half of this month's Barefoot Bloggers brings us GAZPACHO as selected by Meryl from My Bit of Earth. That "perfect" summer soup -- chilled fresh veggies all mixed together to bring joy to your tastebuds. Well, that is, if you like cold soup? I never really was a fan of cold soup. To me, I thought that soup should be hot and if not hot, well, at least warm.

In any case though, as the days are getting hotter here, I welcomed the chance to try gazpacho again. And I wasn't disappointed! I actually quite liked this soup. My husband raved about it and took some with him when he went to go visit his mom -- and she loved it too. I liked how Ina left the soup chunky so you could actually taste each of the different vegetables.

I also definitely agree with Ina's recommendation -- the longer you let the soup sit and blend all together, the richer the flavors. The colors were bright and cheery and so was the flavor.

Would I make it again? Sure! It was rather easy to throw together and I think it would be fantastic at a summer barbecue party. Do I find myself personally craving it? Well, probably not. But I wouldn't be opposed to having it again.

As for variations, I read the other day about a more "southwestern" spin on gazpacho that I think would be dee-li-cious. Next time, I think I'll doctor up the gazpacho with some avocados (some pureed, some chunky) and fresh corn. And maybe, a bit of Tabasco or hot sauce for that extra kick. Yum.


The Recipe: Barefoot Contessa's Gazpacho

Ingredients

• 1 hothouse cucumber, halved and seeded, but not peeled
• 2 red bell peppers, cored and seeded
• 4 plum tomatoes
• 1 red onion
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 23 ounces tomato juice (3 cups)
• 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup good olive oil
• 1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Roughly chop the cucumbers, bell peppers, tomatoes, and red onions into 1-inch cubes. Put each vegetable separately into a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse until it is coarsely chopped. Do not overprocess!

After each vegetable is processed, combine them in a large bowl and add the garlic, tomato juice, vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Mix well and chill before serving. The longer gazpacho sits, the more the flavors develop.

A Cure of the Winter Blues - Barefoot Contessa's Chicken Noodle Soup

I'm a big soup person. I love soup, especially in the winter, because they are comforting, versatile, and lend well to leftovers.

One of my favorite soups to cook up is chicken noodle soup. Yes, yes, a standard classic, but I always found it to be so warm and inviting. In particular, I'm a fan of the Barefoot Contessa's Chicken Noodle Soup, which goes a little something like this:

(1) Coat two chicken breasts (she suggests with skin and bone, I tend to have boneless skinless chicken breasts in my freezer so I use that) in olive oil, generous helping of salt and black pepper. (I've recently become a fan of Giada's sea salt with lemon zest).

(2) Roast the chicken breasts in the oven at 350 degrees for about 35-40 minutes (this is actually one of my favorite ways to just make chicken breast in general -- turns out quite moist!). After the chicken breasts are done (and at least somewhat cooled), shred or dice the chicken.

(3) About 10 minutes before the chicken breasts are done, heat to a simmer 2 quarts of chicken stock (Ina recommends homemade chicken stock... I often don't have this, so use good old store bought Swanson chicken stock).

(4) Once simmering, add in 1 cup of diced celery (approx 2 stalks), 1 cup of diced carrots (approx 3 carrots), and 2 cups of wide egg noodles (I often put in a bit more noodles because I love them). Cook uncovered for 10 minutes or until the noodles are cooked.

(5) Add shredded/diced chicken breast into soup to heat through.

(6) Ladle up a large bowl and enjoy!

Ina also suggests adding parsley, but I often end up omitting this. You can also easily freeze this into serving size portions to save for a snowy day.