Ashley's Gazpacho

This is a twist on the gazpacho from the Lopez Family Traditions book. If you don't know, gazpacho is a chilled or cold tomato based soup consisting of raw vegetables including cucumbers, peppers, and garlic. The soup is then thickened with bread!

Ashley's Gazpacho

ingredients

• 1 large can of solid tomatoes
• 1 cucumber
• 1 chili pepper, roasted*
• 1 garlic clove
• 4 slices french bread
• 4 ice cubes
• olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

procedure:

1. Chop garlic and cucumber. Heat a saute pan and add 1 tbsp olive oil on low heat. Add garlic and cucumber. Gently saute. While cooking, carefully remove the top, seeds, and veins from the chili pepper**. Then rough chop.
   
2. Remove pan from heat and add to a blender. Add tomatoes, chopped chili pepper, and 1 tbsp olive oil. Blend on low until smooth.
3. Add 4 ice cubes, and bread. Blend again. Place in fridge until chilled.
4. When ready to serve garnish each bowl with your choice chopped cucumber, tomatoes, and/or bread cubes***.

* Chili peppers can be very mild or very hot ranging from pepper to pepper. If you don't want to use chili pepper, 1/2 of a bell pepper can be used instead.
** If you are using chili pepper be mindful of the juices, oils and seeds. Do not rub your eyes, nose, open cuts, and otherwise "sensitive" areas without washing your hands thoroughly after handling the peppers.
***If you find the pepper too hot after making the soup, you can either add more cucumber, garnish with larger chunks of cucumber or add sour cream to your bowl.