We had the first real heatwave of the season upon us. I had just read an article about cold soups, I felt inspired to try making gazpacho. Using one of the recipes that I had read as a base, I made some modifications and created my own version. Being a no cook soup, all that was required was a few minutes of dicing.
After a busy day with four kids, it was nice to sit down for a dinner that was ready. In fact, I had made the soup the day prior, so it had had 24 hours for the flavors to blend. The soup was accompanied by a crusty, yet chewy-centered, boule. A very relaxing meal for us and our favorite friends whom we invited to join us.
The soup had the perfect amount of sweetness to accent the savory tastes of onion and garlic. However, I added a few extra drops of mango hot sauce to my portion. That provided a little more zip and a wider range of flavor.
If you want to try something that tastes like a tropical beach dinner on a hot summer night, this is the recipe for you. A simple way to cool yourself from the inside out.
For a different version, try my watermelon gazpacho recipe.
- 1 20-ounce can pineapple chunks in juice
- 1 medium mango, peeled
- 1 tomato, cored
- 1 medium cucumber, peeled
- 1 red, orange, or yellow sweet pepper, cored and seeded
- 1/2 sweet onion
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon mango hot sauce*
- juice of 4 limes
- 2-1/2 cups tomato juice
- Drain pineapple, reserving juice.
- Dice pineapple, mango, tomato, cucumber, pepper, and onion into 1/4 inch pieces.
- Place all diced fruits and vegetables in a glass bowl.
- Add garlic, salt, hot pepper sauce, and lime juice.
- Let mixture stand for 10 minutes or just until fruits and vegetables begin to release their juices.
- Stir in pineapple and tomato juices.
- Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, though 24 hours allows the flavors to combine more.
- *Other hot sauces can be used.
