cool as a cucumber
What do you do when you’re a soup-lover, but it’s 90 degrees outside and you feel like your insides are melting? You do gazpacho, that’s what. I was hugely inspired by this recipe in Food & Wine for Kachumber Gazpacho, and I followed it pretty closely with a few modifications of my own. The most prominent changes I made were swapping roasted chickpeas for sev (crispy chickpea noodles) and adding feta cheese at the end. I also tweaked a few measurements here or there. If you decide to go for this recipe, I hope you enjoy it and stay nice and cool in the July heat.
⟶ the recipe
tomato cucumber gazpacho
ingredients
3 large heirloom tomatoes, cored
1 cucumber, peeled and seeded
1 red onion
1 red bell pepper, roughly chopped
1 poblano pepper, roughly chopped
3 cloves of garlic
1 cup sourdough bread, torn into pieces
¼ cup olive oil
¼ cup plus 1 teaspoon lime juice
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
½ teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon black pepper
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
1 15-ounce can of chickpeas
½ cup crumbled feta cheese
Prep time
1 hour 30 minutes
Cook time
20 minutes
Total time
1 hour 30 minutes
4 servings
instructions
Dice about ¼ cup each of the tomatoes, cucumber, and red onion into small chunks. Reserve the rest of each vegetable for later use. Stir together the small chunks of tomato, cucumber, and onion in a small bowl. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Rinse chickpeas, and drain them thoroughly. Coat chickpeas with olive oil, then arrange them in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake chickpeas for about 20 minutes until brown and crispy. Remove from oven and transfer chickpeas to a bowl to cool.
Meanwhile, chop the remaining tomatoes, cucumber, and onion into large pieces. Place tomatoes, cucumber, onion, bell pepper, poblano, garlic, bread, olive oil, ¼ cup lime juice, vinegar, garam masala, ¾ teaspoon cumin, ¾ teaspoon coriander, salt, and pepper in a large blender. Pulse for 1-2 minutes until the mixture is smooth. Chill gazpacho for at least one hour.
Shortly before serving, remove the small bowl of tomatoes, cucumber, and red onion from the fridge. Add in the cilantro, paprika, and remaining ¼ teaspoon of the cumin and coriander. Stir the mixture, and season with salt to taste.
Once the gazpacho is chilled, remove it from the fridge and divide it among the bowls. Top each serving with a spoonful of chickpeas, chopped veggies, and crumbled feta. Garnish with additional cilantro leaves, if desired.
⟶ recipe notes
- Depending on how liquidy your veggies are, you may want to thin out the gazpacho with a bit of water either while blending or after chilling
⟶ modifications
- This one is for my mom’s sake (she can’t eat tomatoes): feel free to ditch the heirlooms if that’s also the case for you and add an additional red bell pepper and half a cucumber. The tomatoes hold a ton of water, so if you do this, you may need to thin out the gazpacho with some water
⟶ make it ahead
Gazpacho and chopped veggies can be made ahead of time and stored separately in the fridge for up to 2 days
Chickpeas can also be roasted ahead of time and store in an airtight container until ready to use
Make sure to store everything separately (gazpacho, chickpeas, and veggies) until serving so they don’t get soggy or meld together
