Recipe: Gazpacho

Like many people who over-plant in the Spring, I am now looking for creative ways to use up the bounty from my garden.  One of the most perplexing items in my garden are my cherry tomatoes. For the first couple of weeks, I am content to eat them as quickly as they ripen.  However, about four weeks later when all ten or so plants are producing mature fruit, I am unable to eat my way through the backyard.  So I decided to try making Gazpacho out of my cherry tomatoes and I am so pleased with the results. I love the flavor of cherry tomatoes, but they are not as versatile as larger tomatoes. That has changed with the discovery of how great they are in a Gazpacho. I have eaten several quarts of Gazpacho already this summer as it makes a quick and easy meal.  I don't add anything to the Gazpacho until I serve it.  I have also found that things like fresh green beans and fresh corn are also very good in Gazpacho.  Cucumbers are used in the traditional recipes, but use up any fresh vegetables that you have on hand that you like with tomatoes.  Here is my basic recipe, I have used yellow and red cherry tomatoes.  If I have a couple of larger tomatoes, I have also added them into the mix.  I have found that the acidity and sweetness of the tomatoes vary as well, and I adjust the recipe accordingly.  I have a very prolific "Sweet 100" cherry tomato plant and the tomatoes produced are very sweet.  So when I use them, I add more jalapeno pepper than I use with the yellow cherry tomatoes or the "Green Zebras".

I have frozen several quarts of Gazpacho to enjoy in the Winter. I am looking forward to eating Gazpacho on one of our warm Spring days that hint of the Summer to come.

Enjoy!

Combine all the ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Salt and pepper to taste.

3 cups of cherry tomatoes
1/2 small red onion
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 - 1 jalapeno pepper
1 - 2 tablepoons olive oil
1 - 2 tablepoons red wine vinegar
1/4 - 1/2 small red pepper

Thai Green Curry Seafood Soup

Happy New Year! For some reason my family really wanted a Thai soup for the new year, so that is what I made to celebrate the start of 2016.

I wanted to do something I have never done before: make curry paste from scratch. It sounded daunting. Lots of obscure ingredients and a food processor are required. But it was surprisingly simple to do and it tasted so good! I will never open the jar of green curry I have sitting in my fridge. I will always make it from scratch from now on. I started by making a simple pork ball and bean noodle soup with the curry, so that I would have an idea of how much to use in the Seafood soup. The pork ball soup turned out great and I will share that recipe another day.

Green Curry Paste

In a food processor, put the following ingredients:

1 tsp roasted cumin seeds (I just roasted them in a pan on the stove for about 5 mins- super easy!)
1 tsp roasted coriander seeds (Also roasted on the stove)
1 tbs chopped ginger
1 tbs chopped lemongrass
1 tbs fish sauce (Red Boat if you can find it)
4 Kaffir lime leaves chopped
4 Mexican or Key limes juiced
4-6 cloves of garlic chopped
1 Serrano chile chopped
1 small shallot chopped
1/2 C cilantro chopped
1/2 C basil chopped (I used frozen from my garden as I could not find good fresh and it worked just fine)
1/4-1/2 C coconut cream (Kara if you can get it)

Process until smooth. It will probably be a little "chunkier" than the paste you get in the store, but that does not matter. You are going purely for taste. Adjust any ingredients that you might need. I ended up adding more cilantro and more pepper. Mine still has bits of cilantro and basil but I liked it that way.

Thai Seafood Soup

8 C of chicken broth or clam/vegetable (whatever soup base you like)
4 C of chopped vegetables (I used eggplant, snap peas, red pepper, zucchini & green onion)

Add the curry paste.
Cook until the vegetables are tender then add the seafood.

Add the seafood; I used clams, shrimp, fish and crab
(Clams first, as they need a hotter pot, then fish followed by the shrimp and the crab last. I cook the crab separately and then clean and add to the pot)

Add the coconut cream to the pot. I also served limes, red pepper flakes, and cilantro on the table to let everyone individualize the taste. I also added some of the fresh curry paste to the bowl.

Enjoy making green curry paste from scratch and a big pot of Thai Seafood Soup!