Too Hot to Cook: Gazpacho

Too Hot to Cook is a summer cooking series at The Attic on Eighth where we share our favorite summer recipes for those long, sultry days where turning on an oven or letting stovetop dishes heat up your home feels like much too much. We’ve brought cooking free dishes to the table in the past, and we hope that by the end of summer 2020, to have shared many more. In this first volume of the year, Contributing Attic Editor Zoë G. Burnett makes gazpacho.

Photography by ZGB

It’s comforting to know that somewhere in antiquity, someone thought, “It’s too hot to cook, but I have all this produce! Let’s blend it together and see what happens.” That’s how I imagine gazpacho being created, anyway. Most of the time cooking is taxing enough, and when the temperature rises above 80˚F (27˚C), my drive to feed myself even with water, protein smoothies, and lime tortilla chips comes to a screeching halt. Gazpacho is an easy way to get your vitamins and stay hydrated, provided you have passably decent vegetables and some kind of spice available. There are a few key ingredients, but the best thing about the dish is that you can swap most out to your taste. Don’t forget to build in some marinating time to let the soup cool while you read a book or take a nap, because nothing else is really worth doing in that kind of heat.

Yields about 6 cups (48oz), serving size is subjective.

Ingredients

Photography by ZGB

• 4 or 5 vine tomatoes

• 1 large cucumber

• 1 yellow or orange pepper

• 1 purple onion

• 3 or 4 scallions

• 2 garlic cloves (4, if you’re me)

• 1/4 cup white balsamic vinegar (or sherry vinegar)

• 3 tbsp olive oil

• 1 tbsp sumac or cumin, or 1/2 tbsp of both

• squirt of lime juice

• salt and pepper, as desired

Extras

• Cured ham; any variant is good but jamón is best, and you can pronounce it with a Spanish accent to impress your friends

• Chopped hard boiled eggs, for protein

• Hint of Lime Tostitos™; regular tortilla chips are fine, I just really like these and am not ashamed or being paid to endorse them

Process

Now, chop up all the ingredients and squish them together. That’s it, you’re done!

Just kidding, sort of.

Photography by ZGB

Chop the veggies into medium-sized chunks and drop them into a mixer, drizzling portions of the olive oil and vinegar in between the layers. Using a food processor is faster, but a blender works just as well. If working with a blender, you may have to do the vegetables in batches. An almost pureed consistency is desirable, however some prefer their gazpacho with more texture. Chill for at least three hours, and that means you chill, too. If you don’t relax, the vegetables will get stressed out and they won’t marinate properly. Serve with the above mentioned garnishes to suit your dietary needs or restrictions and enjoy with a cool beverage, preferably under a big umbrella. Sunshine activates the gazpacho. Best eaten within four to five days, either with a bowl or straight from the mixer. No judgment, it’s hot out.

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Zoë G. Burnett is a writer, film enthusiast, and ad woman based in Massachusetts. A lover of all things spooky and sparkly, she is currently working on her first book about witchcraft and classic style. Zoë is a Contributing Editor and The Attic on Eighth’s Film Columnist.