firestorm garden gazpacho

august was a lovely month of fresh summer veggies and september is looking pretty good too. i made a big batch of gazpacho the other day for my housemates with most of the ingredients coming from the garden and the rest from our CSA. i got this recipe from firestorm cafe, a worker owned cooperative restaurant in Asheville, NC. i live in a large vegan coop house so the recipes from firestorm cafe are perfect for us since we need to cook in large batches.

if you also often cook for large groups of vegetarians and vegans, then check out firestorms recipe page and the moosewood cooks for a crowd recipe book. both are really great resources for large vegetarian meals. moosewood also has some of their recipes online here.

here's the firestorm recipe:

1 cans Tomatoes, diced (#10 can- really large, get it in the bulk section at a food coop) 2 cup Onion, chopped 4 medium Cucumber, chopped 4 medium Bell pepper, chopped 2 bunches Basil, chopped (and/or Cilantro) 4 clove Garlic ¾ cup Olive oil ½ cup Lemon juice ½ cup Lime juice ¼ cup Apple cider vinegar 1 Tbl Italian seasoning 1 Tbl Pepper 1 Tbl Salt 1 Tbl Sugar 1 tsp Cumin Combine half of ingredients in the food process and blend thoroughly. When the mixture has been reduced to a diced consistency (no pieces larger than a lentil), add it to a soup sleeve. Repeat with the remaining ingredients. Chill and serve! one thing i do differently with this recipe is i blend most of the ingredients seperately and then mix them together in a large bowl with a spoon. i find that this keeps the texture of all the different vegetables while still blending their flavors together. i also usually use fresh tomatoes instead of canned if i have them, and then add some tomato juice to make up for the loss of liquid. (so essentially i just combine the moosewood recipe with firestorm) happy end of summer!