SippitySup

Green Gazpacho is One of the Best Cold Dishes in the World

Green Gazpacho

According to Mark Bittman gazpacho is “one of the best cold dishes in the world”. According to Greg Henry “green gazpacho is even better”.

Notice that’s a quote? I don’t mean to imply that those words have ever appeared in print (at least not accredited to me) but I do want to set a precedent. I do want to make my feelings known. Put something in “quotes” and folks “believe”.

And believe they should. Because gazpacho is “one of the best cold dishes in the world” (MB) and “green gazpacho is even better” (GH).

When it comes to gazpacho– it’s easy being green. Sorry Kermit, it just is. Red gazpacho requires excellent tomatoes. Excellent tomatoes aren’t always “easy”. On our screwed up globe excellent commercial tomatoes are becoming a rare and rarer globe. Just check your grocery store. Sure they get better as the weather warms. But mostly, excellent tomatoes are limited to backyards and farmers markets.

But cucumbers and green bell peppers, these are almost always good. Even way back when my mom was pinching and sniffing tomatoes in 1970s grocery stores– green bell peppers were almost always good. Heck, they may have been the only bell peppers.

Still, I doubt my mom had access to excellent tomatillos way back then. So as much as I know she would have loved my easy green gazpacho– it might have eluded her. But I live in Los Angeles (in the new millennium) where excellent tomatillos are as easy to come by as cucumbers and are as unchanged as 1970s green bell peppers.

Which is why when it comes to gazpacho– “green gazpacho is even better”. GREG

Easy Green Gazpacho

Easy Green Gazpacho 

Print This Recipe Total time Yield 1 gallonPublished

You may alternatively whiz everything together in a blender or food processor until you like the consistency. It’s even easier that way. But I like the varied texture that hand dicing allows.

Easy Green Gazpacho

Ingredients

  • 1 ½ English cucumber peeled and sliced
  • 1 red onion peeled and sliced
  • 2 green bell pepper halved, seeded and sliced
  • 6 tomatillos (paper-like skin peeled off and sliced
  • 2 avocados (medium sized) halved, pitted and chopped
  • 5 ounce rice wine vinegar
  • 8 dash green Tabasco or more to taste
  • salt to taste
  • white pepper to taste
  • cilantro sprigs as needed, for garnish
  • extra-virgin olive oil (optional)

Directions

Finely dice the cucumber, red onion, green bell peppers, and tomatillos by hand. Ideally the dice will be fairly fine, but the texture is entirely up to you. Place the diced mixture into a large serving bowl or pitcher. 

Scoop a bit more than half of these vegetables into the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade attachment. Add all the chopped avocado and run the machine until a thick, smooth puree is achieved. Scrape the puree back into the serving bowl with the rest of the diced vegetables. Add the rice wine vinegar and green Tabasco sauce; stir to combine. Season with salt and white pepper.

Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours and up to 3 days. Serve chilled with a drizzle of olive oil (optional) and cilantro as garnish.