A Gazpacho that Wasn't

So I started out thinking I was going to make a wonderful gazpacho, out of the CIA book I have - thanks Peter (it's gotta be a good recipe, right?)  I've actually only had gazpacho once, about a month ago, when I was staying at the Siena Hotel in Chapel Hill, and it was an amuse bouche in a shooter.  It was locally sourced, and absolutely delicious.

So I bought everything, and then tonight put on a podcast (Deconstructing Dinner, replaying Bucky McCaw, haha) and got ready to get down and dirty.  That's when I finally got around to reading the recipe, and noticed that once you chop all the ingredients up, it is supposed to sit and marinate in the fridge overnight.  Aye!!  Guess gazpacho has to wait until tomorrow.  However, I did obviously take the time to prepare the ingredients.  I had to peel, seed, and chop the tomatoes, which was my first time doing so. 

The easiest way to do this (courtesy of the CIA book again) is to make an X in the bottom with a knife and blanche them.  This involves first putting the tomatoes in a pot of boiling water for about 10-15 seconds, ad then immediately putting them in a bowl of ice water to "shock" them.  This makes getting the skin off a hundred times easier, trust me.  Then you just have to take the time to seed and chop them - I did a medium-small dice.



The rest of the ingredients involved are green pepper, cucumber, and garlic, which is then marinated in olive oil, red vinegar, and then salt and pepper added to taste.  I went to the local food co-op (an extension of the Weaver Market in Southern Village, Chapel Hill) for my ingredients, but they didn't have a scale (all of the ingredients in the CIA book are listed as weights), so after doing my thing with the 5 plum tomatoes I bought, I have a feeling my ratios of veggies won't be right, but I'm crossing my fingers it will still turn out ok.

Here's what the finished mixture look like, before I covered it and put it in the fridge (and yes I did taste test it, as I am picky about red wine vinegar due to a cooking disaster a number of years ago):

That didn't leave me with many options for dinner, so I opted for Annie's Mac and Cheese.  I also made a wedge salad, which I have become obsessed with as of late.  It basically just involves buying a head of iceberg lettuce and chopping it into 8 lengthwise portions.  I chopped my portions first, then chopped off the bottom portion.  At restaurants they usually serve it with blue cheese dressing, and maybe some tomatoes and bacon as toppings. 

I couldn't find blue cheese at Weaver's (I wonder what's involved with making this that there doesn't appear to be an organic brand?), so I opted for Parmesan Ranch instead.  And I customized it to my own tastes and ingredients, so I did roasted sunflower seeds, walnuts, dried cranberries, and watercress (missing from the pic) that I bought for a future recipe.  And oh, there's goat cheese there too - it's a to die for dill and garlic flavored fresh goat cheese from Black River Farmstead in Durham.  On a side note, I think the smell is spreading across my fridge, good thing I love garlic.  I also bought some bread specifically to make croutons with, so in the future there will be croutons as well.

 It's not the prettiest picture, as my attempt to artfully "dress" the iceburg turned into a big slather, but hey, it's the taste that counts.  And that's a gin and tonic with some added grenadine, cuz I'm just like that.  Drinking whilst cooking makes everything more fun, duh.




Anyways, that's the end of my cooking operation for the day.  Since I used up all of my gazpacho ingredients, I think I am going to venture out the co-op again, this time on my bike, to buy tomato and cucumber to use as a garnish when the gazpacho is actually done.