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The good news is, it’s still warm enough in California that I can post this cucumber and almond gazpacho recipe by Kevin Gillespie in mid-October and it’s actually seasonal. The bad news is, it’s still warm enough in October that gazpacho is more appealing than just about anything else. Also, it’s snowing in Michigan.
Kevin’s cucumber gazpacho was the idea vote winner (all the way back at the very end of August). And I did make the gazpacho then... but somehow, time flew by and now we’re in October.
We were fortunate to have a day off from work today and I spent a lot of the day organizing and cleaning and finding a home for the last remaining jumble of things on my office floor. After that, I took on the mammoth task of beginning to trim down my Lightroom food photo collection, which is clocking in at 400 GB and my hard drive is completely full. Just like my camera’s SD card, which is holding another 120 GB of food photos. I’ve taken a lot of really terrible photos, but also a lot of really mediocre ones that look pretty identical. It’s going to be a long journey to a cleaner hard drive.
So... I took all food photos recently on my iPhone. I hope you’ll forgive the grainy quality of these (also mediocre) pictures.
Anyways, back to Kevin and his gazpacho. This gazpacho is delicious and really really easy to make assuming you have a high speed blender. It is also not light nor inexpensive, given the Marcona almonds and olive oil quantities in here. They provide smooth creamy texture and the gazpacho is very filling... just don’t trick yourself into thinking it’s mostly cucumbers because they only contribute roughly ⅓ the mass here.
Overall, I think this soup was a hit. It’s not something I want to eat every day, but it certainly fulfills a niche on a late summer menu.
I did also make the halibut en papillote, chicken with Alabama white sauce, as well as the marinated radish salad from Fire in My Belly. The halibut preparation resulted in a really moist and tender fish, but it was also rather flavorless, the timing was quite off, and Caleb found the veggies underneath tasted fishy. The grilled chicken was surprisingly good, but I found the smell of egg from the chicken marinade a little strange (it essentially soaks in an aioli( and I found myself constantly questioning whether the chicken was “good”. Never a question I want to worry over, especially with chicken.
I really liked the radish salad actually. It seemed a little strange in concept/on paper, and Caleb didn’t love it, but I would definitely eat it again. That brings us to two out of three recipes succeeding from Fire in my Belly, which is not a bad success rate. I think I’ll try the Breakfast Fud waffles at some point and then call it a day with Fire in My Belly, at least for a while.
Cucumber and Almond Gazpacho
Equipment
- High-speed blender
Ingredients
- 2 (633 grams) English* cucumbers cut into chunks, about 4 cups
- 2 cups cold water
- ¾ cup (90 grams) Marcona* almonds
- 1 marble-sized garlic clove peeled
- 1 tablespoon citrus or ume plum vinegar
- 1½ teaspoon salt
- ⅔ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons lemon olive oil
- 1 baseball-sized ripe peach cut into ¼-inch dice
- pinch Espelette or aleppo pepper
Instructions
- Trim the ends of the both cucumbers off and discard the ends, then cut the cucumber into large chunks and add to the blender jar (yes, skin and any seeds and all).
- Add the water, Marcona almonds, garlic, vinegar, and salt to the blender jar as well, then blend, ramping up to high speed, until smooth, about 1-2 minutes.
- Turn the speed of the blender down to low, then slowly drizzle in the ⅔ cup olive oil and the 2 tablespoons lemon olive oil.
- Use a fine-mesh strainer to strain the soup, using a ladle to force the liquid through. (Discard any remaining solids from the strainer.) Chill the soup until cold in the refrigerator, at least 1 hour.
- Just prior to serving, carefully shake the soup in its container or reblend it (it will have separated slighly, more so the longer you've left it; this is completely natural, expected, and nothing to fret over). Taste the soup for seasoning at this point; depending on how salty your almonds were, you may need to add a little more salt, a little lemon, or a little vinegar.
- Serve the chilled soup, garnished with a little spoonful of diced peaches, a pinch of Aleppo or Esplette pepper, and a small drizzle of lemon olive oil.
