Any time Tomato Gazpacho 2

I don't want to repeat a lot of recipes on my site, but I do love gazpacho. When Cooks Illustrated offered one I had to try it. I made it one Saturday and left it to the fridge over night. The next day I took it to Stern Grove for the Natalie MacMaster show. (GREAT show.) While I think the other fresh tomato recipe is better, this one got such rave reviews I had to put it out too. (Thanks for the compliments Sarah!)

A few things to note. Good tomatoes are key. If they're all green and hard it won't be as good - duh. However, this recipe can get by with less perfect tomatoes. That's because it gets a boost from good tomato juice. Cooks had a whole discussion and thought Welch's was the top dog. My store didn't have it so I used Campbell's and the people loved it. Lastly, the key to a great presentation is having all the vegetables diced to about the same size. You don't want the tomatoes to be big and the cucumbers tiny. I amped up the garlic, because I'm a garlic hound.

Serves: 8
Time: 1 hour working plus an 4 hour rest.

A. good red tomatoes 1.5 pounds  
red bell peppers 1 pound  
cucumbers 2  
garlic 4 cloves  
white onion 0.5 medium A whole onion is too much.
red wine vinegar 0.3 cup  
balsamic wine vinegar 2 tablespoons  
salt 0.25 teaspoon  
fresh ground black pepper 0.25 teaspoon  
ingredient amount  

Cut tomatoes in half and remove the seeds.

Peel the cucumber and remove seeds.

Remove the seeds and stem from the pepper.

Dice the tomatoes, cucumber, pepper, and onion into 1/4 inch cubes. Uniform size makes a big difference in this soup.

Mince the garlic very finely.

Combine tomatoes, bell pepper, cucumber, onion, garlic, salt, pepper, and vinegars.

Let stand for 5 minutes.

B. tomato juice 5 cups I used Campbell's, Cooks recommends Welch's
  Tabasco sauce 1 teaspoon  
Habanero sauce 1/8 teaspoon  

Mix in tomato juice and hot sauces (careful with that Habanero sauce, a little goes a looooong way).

Cover tightly and store in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.

C. extra virgin olive oil 0.25 cup  

When ready to serve, remove one cup of the mixed vegetables.

Use a handheld food processor or blender to purée the rest. I have also served it without this step and while it is good, the purée is a big step better.

Spoon into bowls, add a spoonful of the reserved chopped veggies and drizzle a little olive oil in each bowl. Or mix it all together now and put it into a thermos bottle for your picnic.