Gazpacho

I heard on a Chowhound thread about a Cook's Illustrated recipe for gazpacho being great, so I tried it over the weekend at the same time I did this pulled pork.

I had never made gazpacho before this and had it in restaurants only rarely, if at all. But cold soups are the perfect "something different" for all this heat.

The process is slightly more laborious than simply chopping veggies and throwing them in the blender. The Cook's Illustrated recipe has some explaining of the technique here - not having made gazpacho before, I don't have first-hand experience with the problems they describe, but generally trust them where the science of cooking is concerned and have had more success than not with their recipes.

The slice of bread in the soup does give it wonderful body that it wouldn't have had otherwise. The finished soup contained both pureed and chopped veggies - some chopped veggies added after it's made, and others as a garnish right before serving.

Honestly, the chunky veggies in the soup didn't do much for me. The smooth puree was delicious - especially when pieces of good bread were dipped in it - and I think would have stood better on its own. Next time I make this, I'm going to try it without the chunky veggies.