Gazpacho

This is what dinner looks like when it’s 100 degrees outside, or nearly. This is the third time this month I’ve made gazpacho — really four times, if you count the gazpacho that I made for my class at Central Market in Plano recently.

 

This is my most basic gazpacho recipe, the one I make without looking at a recipe. Like most soups, it’s pretty adaptable. I’ve made this without garlic and onion and used shallots instead if that’s what I have on hand, and if I have none of the above, it’ll work out, too. Tomatoes, cucumber, bell pepper — those you must have. Plus what makes this soup really satisfying is what goes on top. It’s not fun without.

 

You will notice that I have a chopped egg on top of my gazpacho, which I’m only mentioning in case this seems odd to you; if you’ve had gazpacho in Spain, then you already know this is normal, plus it totally works. I usually put diced cucumber on top, too, but I forgot to save some back when I put the cucumber in the blender. Croutons are always a good idea, but I’ve made this plenty of times completely breadless, using only almonds in the soup to give it some body, and then chopping up some on top, too. Crunch is important in soups, hot or cold.

 

I love gazpacho because it cools me down with the first spoonful. I also love it because it’s easy to make and it reminds me of Spain. There is nothing not to love about gazpacho. I have no idea why there’s not gazpacho coming out of the faucets in Texas in the summertime. We need gazpacho.

 

Gazpacho

Makes 4 servings

  • 2 pounds tomatoes
  • ½ red onion
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 1 cucumber, peeled and seeded (about 1/4 cup chopped reserved for serving)
  • ¼ cup raw almonds, plus more for serving
  • 4 slices stale bread, divided
  • ¼ cup olive oil + 2 tablespoons more for croutons
  • 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  • sea salt and pepper
  • 2 eggs

 

Put a large pot of water into boil. Make an X on the bottom of your tomatoes and when the water boils, drop them into the water and set your timer for 30 seconds. Remove the tomatoes, peel off the skin, and put these in the blender. Add the onion, garlic clove, cucumber, almonds, 2 slices of bread, olive oil, red wine vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste. Blend until smooth and creamy. Taste for seasonings. Chill for 3 to 4 hours.

 

Meanwhile, make your hardboiled eggs. Put your eggs in a saucepan, cover them with water, and put the pot onto boil. When it boils, reduce the heat to a simmer and set your timer for 10 minutes. Pour off the water and rinse with cold water. When the eggs cool, you may keep them in the fridge until you’re ready to serve your soup.

 

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Slice the bread into 1/2-inch cubes, toss them with olive oil and a little sea salt and pepper and bake until crisp, about 10 minutes. You can also make these in advance and keep in a plastic bag.

 

Before serving, be sure to taste your soup. The flavors will change slightly in the fridge, so you may need to adjust the seasonings. Pour it into bowls. Chop the eggs and add to the soup, along with some of the chopped cucumber and croutons. Drizzle with olive oil.

 

 

 

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

in Dinner / Soups / Starters / Vegetables / Vegetarian

Garbage Day Salad

Do you ever look up at the end of the day on a Sunday and go, where the hell did the weekend go? The last week, the month?

 

That’s how it’s been for me lately, and please note that I AM NOT COMPLAINING I AM SO FILLED WITH GRATITUDE, but merely making an observation, and the point is sometimes you just don’t have time to do anything but make sure you’ve got enough coffee to keep you going. Between the phone calls and the going to the vet and the writing up this and that and trying to not to eat too many carbs (oh who am I kidding?), you look in the fridge and your fingernails are jammed with dirt because you finally got the herbs that you bought two weeks ago into pots and of course your beautiful French spade and other gardening tools are who the hell knows where, so hands, turns out can scoop out dirt just fine. So going even to the grocery store would require an effort that you no longer have.

 

There, in the too-short fridge, where I must bend down to peek in and see what I’ve got, I find not inspiration and beauty, but what’s left of other recipes that I’ve already made, the unwanted bits and last remains that I completely forgot about until I reach this desperate, I do not want to go to the store point in my day, and then I remember, too, that it is GARBAGE DAY. The day to make everything that’s no longer needed go away. A time to clean up, get rid of what I don’t want or can’t eat anymore. So I can reboot, tidy up, out with the old and in with the new, and get ready for another week. Or month. Or something. What day is it again?

 

As it happens, I am in luck, dirty nails and all. I am lucky because I had an impulse to buy endive the other day, and on that same day, I bought hearts of palm. I pulled the endive out of the crisper and determined that it was okay to eat. I had a couple of eggs left in the carton. I had a balsamic vinaigrette already made, and then I knew that I could make a rendition of a salad that I first had in Biarritz many years ago, a chunky, crispy salad monster with no green lettuce at all, but everything else — endive, tomatoes, eggs, hearts of palm, plus a sunset over the mad waves of the Atlantic on top of it all.

 

I chopped up some kalamata olives and threw them in, too, because I always have them on hand and I don’t think there’s much that they don’t go with or improve. I had a tiny and I do mean tiny bit of Gorgonzola left so I put that into the bowl. The eggs took 10 minutes. I decided I would go ahead and heat up a flatbread in the fridge just in case. In case I had no will power, I guess. It half-burned in my hot as a furnace new oven and I ate it, anyway.

 

The best salad, the best anything I’ve made in awhile.

 

It is always like this. Every time I get to this point of complete exhaustion, too tired to make anything or go to the store, I figure out something to make with what I’ve got, even if I don’t have much of anything at all, and it turns out, it always turns out, that I make something that I couldn’t have thought of if I hadn’t gotten to this point.

 

Garbage Day Salad

Serves 1 or 2

 

2 eggs

3 small endive, cut into 1/2-inch slices

a handful cherry tomatoes, chopped

about 8 Kalamata olives, halved

3 hearts of palm, sliced

chopped fresh herbs (I used basil and mint)

bits of leftover cheese (I used Gorgonzola)

Balsamic vinaigrette, recipe follows

 

Put the eggs in a saucepan and cover with water. Put on the stove to boil. When it boils, reduce to a simmer, and set your timer for 10 minutes. Rinse the eggs under cold water. Peel and chop them. Put them in a salad bowl.

Add everything else to the eggs in the bowl. If you’ve got some leftover bread, you can make some croutons and throw them in, or if you’d like to add toasted nuts and seeds, that’ll give you some additional crunch and protein. I was far too lazy at this point, so I didn’t add anything more. I spooned a little Balsamic Vinaigrette on top of it all and tossed. It was fine. It was more than fine. I ate it all.

 

 

Balsamic Vinaigrette

Makes 1 cup

 

¼ cup balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon chopped shallot

sea salt and pepper

¾ cup olive oil

 

Put the balsamic vinegar, mustard, shallot, and a little sea salt and pepper in a jam jar. Give it a good shake, then let it rest for 15 minutes. Add the olive oil, shake again, and taste. Will keep in the fridge for a week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSaveSaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSaveSaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

in Dinner / Leftovers / Salads / Vegetarian

Quesadillas with Lentils + Sweet Potatoes

My obsession with the famous French lentil du Puy continues, starring most recently in this healthy-ish Tex-Mex quickie, les quesadillas. A speedy dinner, even though the lentils here are the fancy ones, so-called because of the region they come from in France, it’s pretty easy these days to find the small green French lentils, which are almost the same.

 

Smaller than most, these lentils do not turn into those muddy-tasting, amorphous brown ones when cooked; they retain their shape nicely and more than that, even, they’ve got a clean,  bright flavor. (Lentil pitch officially over.)

 

Like any other legume, it’s a good idea to make a large batch and freeze what you’re not going to eat right away, so they’re there when you need them, like at 6:30 on a weeknight, when you’re starving and have to run to the pet store for dog food, and you absolutely mean it this time when you say you will get up early the next morning and go to yoga — or maybe you’ll just see if you wake up without the alarm.

 

Quesadillas with Lentils + Sweet Potatoes

Makes 2 quesadillas

 

  • 2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
  • 4 flour tortillas
  • 2 cups cooked lentils
  • 2 cups roasted sweet potatoes*
  • 1 cup grated mozzarella or Monterrey Jack cheese
  • 1 avocado, for serving
  • salsa, for serving

 

Put 1 tablespoon of the grapeseed oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. When it’s hot, put one of the flour tortillas in the pan and top with: 1 cup lentils, 1 cup roasted sweet potatoes, and half of the cheese. Put the other tortilla on top, pressing it down with a spatula. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the bottom is brown; gently flip the quesadilla to the other side, cook until browned, another 1 minute or so and put on a cutting board. Repeat with the other tortillas. Slice and serve family-style with chopped avocado on top and salsa on the side.

 

*To make roasted sweet potatoes: Peel 2 to 3 medium sweet potatoes, and slice into 1-inch cubes, and toss on a large baking sheet with 2 tablespoons olive oil and sea salt and pepper. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until light brown on both sides, turning once.

 

in Dinner / Starters / Tex-Mex / Vegetarian