I typically make this on the first hot day of the spring. Having never really reached the “cold” stage this past winter in Fresno, I figured I’d throw tradition to the wind and make it just because I felt like it, and I figured it had already been up into the mid-80s recently, so it wasn’t as if it hadn’t been hot already and I couldn’t justify making it.
This is a nontraditional gazpacho – really, it’s thinned down pico de gallo with cucumber and corn added. There’s nothing wrong with that, though. The traditional Andalusian kind is great, but this is a nice change of pace. The corn stands in for the bread that acts as a thickener in the traditional version. It requires a modicum of cooking – but it’s only one ingredient, corn, and you can do that in the microwave if you would like to. Fresh corn is better than frozen when the season is right, but right now the season is not right.
If you are So Inclined, you can add a shot of vodka to make this Gazpacho Borrado.
Ingredients:
1 bottle Looza tomato juice
1 large cucumber, peeled
2 medium tomatoes
1 medium yellow pepper
½ medium red onion
1 ½ c. frozen corn (or about 2 cobs worth)
2 T. olive oil
juice of ½ a lime
1/3 c. chopped cilantro, minced
hot sauce to taste
salt and pepper to taste
Cook the corn briefly – just enough to heat through.
Chop half of the cucumber, tomatoes, yellow pepper, and onion into small dice and set aside. Cut the other half of those vegetables roughly enough that the blender can handle them. Place the roughly chopped vegetables in the blender, along with half the cooked corn, the olive oil, the lime juice, and about ½ of the bottle of tomato juice. Puree. Pour the mixture out into a large bowl and add the chopped vegetables and cilantro. Season with salt and pepper and hot sauce to taste. (Remember, the tomato juice is salty to begin with.) Serve cold.
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