What to do when you have more cucumbers, tomatoes and basil growing than you can reasonably eat or give away? Find a way to freeze them of course! A few weeks back we were in the middle of an amazing tomato season which I’m sad to say is just about over now because of the Texas summer heat. Anyhow, I decided to make some gazpacho, a delicious cold summer soup. I didn’t feel like going to the store for extra ingredients so I looked around for a recipe that mostly relied on the things I had in the garden. I ended up adapting a gazpacho recipe from The Complete Book of Small Batch Preserving.
Garden fresh vegetables
My ingredients ended up being:
- Peeled and seeded cucumbers
- Peeled and seeded tomatoes (using the boiling water method of peeling tomatoes)
- Two jalapeños
- About 1.5 cups of cubed bakery bread (baked by the grocery store, not me)
- Some olive oil
- Fresh ground salt and pepper to taste
- Fresh basil
In the second batch I made, I added some white onion to change the flavor a bit. I liked both varieties.
My method:
Peel and seed cucumbers
Combine cucumbers and peppers (and onion if you’re using it) in a food processor
Use boiling water method to peel tomatoes. First you slice their skin and then dunk them in boiling water for about 30 – 45 seconds followed with an ice bath.
Add peeled and seeded tomatoes to the food processor and combine.
Add bread to food processor and combine.
At the end, add olive oil, salt, pepper and fresh basil to taste.
We then ate about half the batch and I froze the rest in a plastic container. A few days later I made another batch and froze it. Mmmm… garden vegetables.
Do you have a favorite gazpacho recipe I should try?
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Laura Makes 
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