Friday, December 21, 2012

You Say Tomato, I say Tamato

I think it's safe to say that on a cold wintry December day there is one food that everyone can agree on, soup.  A good bowl of soup made of comfort, warmth and delicious taste.  However, on this wintry December day, I was in the mood for soup...but not a hot one, a chilled soup of Tomato Gazpacho.  I searched long and hard on Google for a couple different recipes and finally decided on one from a website called "momswhothink.com".  I perused the recipe once and then got down to business.  I took out three luscious large red tomatoes from the fridge and chopped them into small pieces.  I placed the now tiny chops of tomato into a large bowl.  Each tomato was bursting full of juice.  Then I moved onto the next step, a 1/2 cup of cucumber, I peeled a dark green cucumber, seeded it and then cut it into small chunks and scooped the pieces up into the bowl.  For the next step I cut one medium sized redish-green pepper into small slices and added them to the mix.  The next step of the recipe called for 2 green onions, but...we didn't have those, so I improvised.  I carefully cut one large white onion in half, putting one half in a container to save for later, and dicing the other half into tiny, minuscule pieces to add to the bowl.  Then came the tomato juice, I added two cups of creamy, red tomato juice into the bowl and stirred the ingredients together, as the pieces of vegetables floated on top of the liquid.  Next step, a tablespoon of lemon juice.  Well, in my case, lime juice (we didn't have any lemons), I tipped the spoon into the bowl and mixed the soup together again.  Finally, it was time for the ultimate flavor, the spice.  I took out black pepper, salt and garlic powder - but there was no specific amount of spices to add to the soup, so I twisted and shook the spices onto the soup, with a final mix so all the vegetables would be covered in spice.  Then I covered the soup and let it chill in the fridge for about 20 minutes.  After 20 minutes, I scooped a bit into the blender and added the mixture to the bowl of chopped soup.  The soup had a rosey red hue with red, white and green flecks.  My first spoonful had a fresh summer taste.  It was a mixture of the tomato juice and the chunkiness of the vegetables.  The soup was filled with hints of spice, along with the crispness of the cucumber, onion and red pepper, I was able to taste each vegetable in every bite.  "What good is the warmth of summer, without the coldness of winter to give it sweetness" John Steinbeck.

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