Do you realize how many varieties of tomatoes there are? I am in awe over this fact. From what I can gather through Google searches there are about 3,000 varieties of heirloom or heritage tomatoes alone that are in cultivation worldwide and over 10,000 varieties of tomatoes. Mind boggling.
I found this beautiful little gazpacho tomato soup recipe in a cookbook called The Heirloom Tomato by Amy Goldman. Mainly the book explains in color photos the many varieties of heirloom tomatoes and then a few recipes at the end. Every recipe looked and sounded scrumptious.
This gazpacho has a trio of different flavors for sure with each different colored tomato claiming its own authentic essence. The red tomato is sweet while the orange tomato has a bit of a tangerine-apricot bite. Now the green tomato gives a definite tangy wallop. I was really impressed with the differences in each one.
At first I was a little bit intimidated with the ingredients and then pouring the purees into the bowls. Turns out it really wasn’t that difficult. The pouring does require three hands. I got my husband to pour the green tomato puree because it was a bit chunkier than the other two. The trick is to pour them all at the same time so that each puree captures it own space. You don’t want them to run together. Got it on the first try. Yes!! That leads me to believe this is a lot easier than it sounded at first.
What you will need: TOMATOES
This recipe called for a lot of tomatoes but since this was my first time making this I only used one tomato for each color. I also cut down the garnishes as well. With the 3 tomatoes you will get about 18 oz which is enough for three 6 oz bowls or goblets.
1 red tomato
1 green tomato
1 orange tomato
2 basil leaves
salt
Chop up the tomatoes and place each color separately. Add a basil leaf to each bowl and a dash of salt. Mix and allow to marinate for a couple of hours. After they have marinated puree each separately. Don’t forget to rinse the processor bowl each time. Place each bowl in fridge and chill.
For the garnish:
red pepper chopped small
jalapeno pepper chopped small
cucumber chopped small
avocado chopped small
crispy crouton chopped small
Keep all the garnishes separate except for the 2 peppers, mix those together. Top the gazpacho with each of the garnishes.
This is a wonderful lite chilled soup that would make for a nice starter on a warm afternoon out on the patio.
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