Well, summer is definiely in full swing here in LA.  Note to the weather: this little lady is not built to withstand triple digit temps.  In the seemingly unending oven/heat/inferno that lies right outside your door, it’s hard to find something satisfying enough for a moderate meal and isn‘t a salad.

Segue to the earth’s gift to your summertime palate: gazpacho.  A contradictory soup of sorts.  It’s a light but filling, and it’s a soup…that’s served cold.

Thanks to Food Republic, I was able to throw together an easy, refreshing gazpacho in about 15 or so minutes (the most time consuming task is simply chopping up your veggies.)

You’ll want to use fresh, ripe tomatoes.  This shouldn’t be too hard since they’re in season and in abundance at the farmer’s market now

Recipe Rating:

The recipe, (original found here.  My modifications reflected below)

Ingredients:

1. In the bowl of a food processor, add the tomatoes, cucumber, bell peppers, celery, onion shallots and garlic and pulse just to combine. 4 or 5 pulses will do. Don’t over process we want to keep it a little chunky. The next step will thin it out.
2. Remove and in a large bowl combine the olive oil, lemon juice, tomato juice and hot sauce.
3. Add the pureed vegetables and season with salt. You can add more hot sauce here if you want it spicier, we usually do.
4. Serve and top with sour cream avocado and cilantro.

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