GAPS Gazpacho

I love Gazpacho.

Many years ago I had a roommate who had grown up in California. In the spring after a long cold Connecticut winter she felt inspired to have Gazpacho at her college Graduation party. I hadn’t ever tasted it and generally was of the opinion that tomatoes that weren’t intact were suspect. (I was never a great fan of marinara sauce or tomato soup). I tasted a tiny bit trepiditiously and instantly was hooked! This stuff is fantastic! I had her recipe that I followed religiously for years and then I lost it. Alas I haven’t ever seen a recipe again with quite the same combinations of ingredients however over the past few years I have loosened up my expectations of an exact result with gazpacho and now I want to just use whatever I have on hand that is in the general flavor family.

 

When I looked over in my kitchen at this bounty from my CSA boxes I immediately knew I had to turn it into gezpacho. (ok yes the bagged onions didn’t come from my csa but everything else did).

 

 

 

 

GAPS Gazpacho

• 1/2-1/4 cup Fermented veggie juice (pickle, sauerkraut, etc)or apple cider vinegar
• ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp lemon (optional depending on how sour your ferment is)
• 2 cups broth (how to make bone broth)
• 3 cloves garlic minced (use pickled garlic if you have it for a mellower flavor and fermented boost)
• 6 large ripe tomatoes, coarsely chopped, with their juice (about 7 cups)
• 2 colored bell peppers, cored, seeded and coarsely chopped (about 2 cups)
• 1 large red onion, coarsely chopped (about 2 cups)
• 2 large cucumbers, peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped (about 2 cups)
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
• 2 teaspoon sea salt and more to taste
• 1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper and more to taste
• 1 tbsp dried thyme (3 tbsp fresh) other herbs also work well
• sour cream (optional) Go here to learn how to make it GAPS Sour Cream

 

In a large bowl mix together the fermented veggie juice, broth, olive oil and optional lemon juice.

Add all the chopped vegetables into the liquid and stir well. If you have aHand Blender like mine just puree in the bowl otherwise scoop up in portions into the blender and blend till smoother. You want this to have some texture to it.

Stir in the salt, pepper and thyme.

Put into the fridge for at least 4 hours or till well chilled. This will allow the flavors to blend and is especially important if you end up using dried herbs.

Serve cold in bowls with a dollop of sour cream. I also like to puree it till smooth with my Vitamixand drink it from a glass.

This makes approximately 3 qts of gazpacho

As you can see my girls loved it! Yet another sneaky broth win!

 

 

While I was cooking that afternoon the girls were playing restaurant (largely guided by my 8 year old, W.) She decided that I needed a chefs hat and so she made me one.

The girls are wearing their aprons and W is wearing a cast off shirt of her fathers and a scarf tied as a tie in the above photos since they were both our wait staff. and served us our waters and passed out menus before they changed their role to eating at the restaurant.

 

Note to those on a Low Oxalate Diet. This is not low oxalate. I am noticing a flare of my primary oxalate symptoms from my inability to resist fresh tomatoes at this time of year so beware!