Ina’s Summer Gazpacho

Have you been watching Season 7 of Top Chef? So far, the contestants haven’t blown me away, but Wednesday night’s challenge was quite clever and entertaining. In the Elimination Challenge, the chefs were asked to take part in Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign to fight childhood obesity. They had to prepare school lunches for 50 students with a budget of $130, keeping it nutritious while tasty. Why didn’t they make gazpacho? That’s what I would have done- all the veggies you could ask for to make sure our fat American kids get their vitamins. Here’s a twist on Ina’s gazpacho recipe for your tomato-loving-pleasure.

Ingredients:

1 English cucumber
2 red bell peppers
4 plum tomatoes
1 red onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 cups tomato juice
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup good olive oil
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

Roughly chop all the vegetables. Put each vegetable separately into a food processor and pulse until it is coarsely chopped. Do not puree or you will have baby food!

First goes the cukes…

pureed cucumber