Gazpacho with Avocado

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

To kickoff my new blog, I tried my first recipe from The Amazing Avocado. It was incredibly fast (under 30 mins to chop) and tasted absolutely fresh--it had the consistency and taste of homemade salsa. Overall, it was a great teaser to Spring/Summer, but next time we will serve it as an appetizer before a BBQ dinner.

The original recipe is below with my notes/changes in Italics.

Ingredients
Soup
1 1/2 LB tomatoes, cored (but not peeled)
1 medium cucumber, peeled and seeded
1/2 red onion
1/2 red pepper *I forgot to add!
2 radishes (medium sized)
1 stalk celery *Yuck, I omitted
1/4 cup picked parsley leaves
1 clove garlic
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sherry vinegar
1 tbs. extra virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
3 dashes of Sriracha sauce

Mousse
1 Hass Avocado from Mexico
1 shallot, grated *Omitted
1/2 cup of sour cream
1 teaspoon of chopped cilantro *Omitted
Pinch of salt

Instructions

Soup

1. Prep the vegetables - core out the tomatoes, peel and seed the cucumber, top and tail the radishes, etc.

2. Cut them in to medium sized chunks that will fit through the feed tube of a meat grinder. *I used a food processor.

3. Set up your meat grinder with the medium sized disk (if you have used it for meat, be sure that the parts have been thoroughly washed and sanitized). *Omitted

4. Slowly feed the vegetables through the grinder to a bowl below (it might splash out the side a bit – so have a towel handy!)

5. Season the puree with the salt, vinegar, olive oil, and black pepper.

6. Taste, and adjust if necessary. Chill until cold.

7. Best used the same day that it’s made.

Mousse (see my notes below)

1. Peel the Hass Avocado and place in a small bowl and mash it with a fork.

2. Add the grated shallot, sour cream and cilantro and whisk to combine. Season with a pinch of salt.

3. To serve: ladle cold Gazpacho into chilled bowls. Garnish with the Avocado mousse.

I didn't make the mousse. I sliced the avocado and placed them around the rim of my bowl and topped the gazpacho with a dollop of sour cream.