Gazpacho

If you don't make this already, you should. Especially you Perth people. Especially this week. Nuff said.
It's refreshing like crazy. And probably good for us too. I love that scene in Women on the Verge of a Mental Breakdown where she makes gazpacho. This one will be just as good even if lacking the magic ingredient. Sadly it won't be served by a dorky Antonio Banderas though.

900g overripe tomatoes (blanched and peeled is best if you have time)
1 T tomato sauce / paste
1 T olive oil
1 small garlic clove, peeled
1 T sugar/agave syrup (really? taste and decide)
150ml vegetable stock
bunch of fresh basil
2 T redwine vinegar
salt and freshly ground white pepper


Set aside a few basil leaves to decorate then put all the ingredients in a blender and whizz. Strain mixture through a sieve into a bowl, pushing hard to extract all the juice. (The remaining pulp can be used in another recipe, like the gazpacho paella thing). Or you can just put all the veg ingredients through a juicer and then mix in the extra liquid ingredients. I did this today but just juiced half a celery in place of vegetable stock. Adjust the seasoning then chill until ready to serve. If it's as hot as it is in Perth at the moment, you might like to think about chucking some icecubes in the glass / bowl you serve it in.

NB - why not just keep all the pulp in? Well you can, sure, but the clean texture helps it feel extra refreshing, I think. Also, no pulp means no bits of basil on your teeth which is good if you're having this at work!

Gazpacho risotto/paella thing

This is a real 'waste not, want not' meal to use up left overs plus whatever vegetables I had in the fridge. In this case, it was leftover rice, purple carrots and the fibre that remained when I sieved the gazpacho - there was so much of it, I wasn't throwing that away!


1 cup drained gazpacho fibre (see gazpacho recipe in recipe page)
1 & 1/2 cups day-old cooked rice
pinch saffron (optional)
10 pitted kalamata olives
1-2 ripe tomatoes
1 green capsicum
1 red capsicum
1 small orange-flesh sweet potato
1 purple carrot
1 bunch of asparagus
spray cooking oil
2-3 freerange boiled eggs, halved


Heat gazpacho paste in frying pan with a pinch of saffron. Crumble in rice and mix through. Stir in olives.

Halve capsicums, slice sweet potato and carrots into rounds. Spray with oil and grill in oven (fan grill if doing in trays on different racks). When almost done, add the asparagus (tough ends removed).

Serve rice on plates. Decorate with other ingredients as you like.