I have to admit that I have never been drawn to Gazpacho. The idea of cold tomato soup just isn’t very appealing to me. But, since this is Cook the Book Fridays, I willingly made this week’s recipe, Gazpacho with Herbed Goat Cheese Toasts.
One thing that did appeal to me about making this recipe was that I was able to use home grown tomatoes. It seems like a recipe featuring tomato is the perfect match for garden tomatoes.
I made a change to the technique: rather that boiling the tomatoes briefly to peel them, and then pushing the tomato pulp through a strainer, I just ran them through my food mill. I’m not sure it saved me any time, but for some reason I find the boil-and-peel method to be tedious, and I also got to use one of my kitchen toys!
The herbed goat cheese toasts were an interesting contrast to the goat cheese we made a few weeks ago. This was the “quick and easy” version, while the other recipe required at least 24 hours. Both versions were good, and both have their place.
I was pleasantly surprised by the gazpacho! It was very flavorful, and the olive oil and my San Marzano tomatoes added a richness I didn’t expect. My husband loved this soup, and has requested it a couple times since I made it last weekend (alas, we don’t have enough garden tomatoes for it right now). I gave a small bowl to my daughter and she liked it too. I still don’t think I will ever crave gazpacho, but I now see it as a nice way to enjoy tomatoes from the garden.
From Scratch 
I am not a fan of tomato soup at all but since Jim loves it I knew he would enjoy this. However, after I tasted it I really liked it myself. It had a lot more flavor. Perfect recipe to end the summer.
So lucky to be able to use home-grown tomatoes for this!
Having everyone in the family enjoying the gazpacho from the garden tomatoes must have been really rewarding. Food mill idea sounds fun!
I think a food mill is a bit easier and achieves the same result – wise choice! Gazpacho isn’t something I’d normally make, either, but we really enjoyed the flavours and freshness.
Envy you your food mill! But I did learn the boil-and-peel method (first time ever!). We finished the soup, and love the herbed cheese on toast!
I liked this Gazpacho also although it seemed more like a chunky salad with some liquid added! You were lucky to have fresh tomatoes to use. I will make this again although I might leave out the bread. Glad your hubby enjoyed it and wanted more.
I too used fresh tomatoes, loved it. I like the idea of the food mill- I bet it did save time!
I only grew cherry tomatoes, but I used local farm tomatoes. I think that’s the best way for a soup like this. You did it perfectly. I like your food mill idea too. Which size hole did you choose? I made sauce last week and used the largest, though the seeds and skin did get through, however the skin was chopped up so it isn’t noticeable, and seeds in sauce doesn’t bother me as it might a fussier eater/cook.