Gazpacho Recipe- Made From Scratch

My teacher once told us a story about when he once tried to make gazpacho. He'd heard that gezpacho is simply "blended salad", so when his wife was away he put all the vegetables in the fridge in the food processor and ended up with a disgusting mess...
No, gazpacho isn't made by blending up every vegetable imagineable. Gazpacho is very easy to make with lots of variations possible, but there is some basic way to make it, with which you can play with to get your own versions. My version of gazpacho doesn't call for any processed ingredients like V8 or tomato juice, which keeps the cost down. Gezpacho is my go to recipe when I have accidentally frozen my cucumbers, leaving them unappetizingly limp. I tend to make gazpacho more in the summer when the vegetables are in season, as it is a delicious, chilled soup which is very refreshing on a hot day.

So, how do you make it?
Simple.

No Processed Ingredient Gazpacho

Ingredients:
3-4 cups tomatoes with their juices. (This can be fresh tomatoes, canned tomatoes, or tomatoes you froze cooked or raw- its really flexible.)
4 cups cucumbers. (We have smaller cucumbers locally, so this was 4 cucumbers, but if you have larger cucumbers, this will be fewer cucumbers.)
1 pepper- green, red, yellow, or orange.
2-8 cloves of garlic (I prefer my gazpacho very garlicky, so I put in 6 or 7 usually)
1-2 tablespoons of lemon juice (optional)
1-3 teaspoons salt (or to taste)
1 tablespoon dried oregano or basil or both. (I usually use both, but you can leave out)
1 glug of olive oil (optional)

Instructions:
1. Blend together the tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers.

2. Add the cloves of garlic, one at a time, tasting the mixture, and stopping when you like the amount of garlic.

3. Add the rest of the ingredients as needed.

4. Serve chilled.

Do you ever make gazpacho? What do you put in yours? Is yours with all fresh ingredients or do you use any processed ingredients like V8 or tomato juice? Do you like garlic or would you go minimal on the garlic?
Does this sound like a recipe you'd try out?


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