Wynette Richards

Gazpacho

The Recipe

Makes 4 small servings. We usually double the recipe. Store leftovers in frig; it's very good the next day.

• 2 very large tomatoes, cored, or equivalent in smaller tomatoes, even cherry tomatoes (about a pound)
• 1 cup plain yoghurt (or a little less or a little more)
• 3 T. olive oil
• 12 to 20 fresh basil leaves
• 1 large clove garlic, peeled (optional)
• 2 or 3 scallions, white and light green parts, or a equivalent amount of purple onion or regular onion
• 2 or 3 ice cubes
• 1/4 tsp. salt (can add more later, to taste)
• 1-1/2 tsp. red wine vinegar
• pinch cayenne pepper or a few pinches of chile powder, enough to give it a bit of spiciness (we've used chipotle chile powder which is great)

1. Roughly chop tomatoes, basil, garlic, scallions/onions.
2. Put all ingredients into a blender.
3. Puree until smooth.
4. Taste and add more salt, vinegar, cayenne/chile, onion, garlic, basil, oil, yoghurt, tomatoes ... if you like.
5. Store in refrigerator if not serving right away.

• The recipe on the New York Times website
• Article from New York Times
• PDF copy (in case above link breaks)

1. We use more basil than it calls for.
2. We reduced the amount of garlic. It seems too much garlic can overpower the tomato and basil flavors.
3. We reduced the amount of oil a little.
4. We use regular salt (didn't have any kosher salt) and use MUCH less than what it calls for. Still plenty salty.
5. We reduced amount of yoghurt.
6. Sometimes, if we don't have scallions, we substitute purple or other type onion.
7. We're more likely to use chile powder (good quality from Coop) than cayenne. (Heck, we might try fresh green chile one of these days.)
8. We left out the ground black pepper but will try that some time.
9. We skip the fried pecorino Romano. The fried cheese was too salty and to our amazement we didn't like the taste. You can easily leave it out. It's just there for something crunchy on the side and doesn't seem necessary. Might be good served with crunchy bread, however.