Watermelon Gazpacho

Last night we had Leigh and Brian over to our HOUSE for dinner. (We're home for a bit, and they're in Portland this week.) I made some watermelon gazpacho for our first course and Leigh asked if I'd post the recipe as a comment to her nice blog post this morning, but as I started to write it out I realized I hadn't kept very good track of what I'd done the night before. I often make things up along the way when I'm cooking…adding, tasting, adding, tasting, etc. and so when it comes time to make "that thing that was so good" again, I have no recipe. (This kind of cooking drives Kevin a little bit crazy when we're cooking together, I think.)

Anyway, I had enough ingredients that I figured I'd make another batch this afternoon and keep track of what I did so I could share the recipe. (And also because we finished the first batch last night and I kinda wanted some more.)

So here goes: Watermelon Gazpacho

You'll need:

For soup:
Half of one of those round, seedless watermelons
2 large tomatoes (I used some local Oregon Star tomatoes. Dense, firm, full of flavor.)
Half of an english cucumber, peeled
1 shallot, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeño, seeded (or mostly seeded) and chopped
Juice from one large lime
Olive oil
Red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar 
Hot sauce (I use Tabasco Chipotle)

For garnish:
Diced cucumber, tomato, and jalapeño
Creme fraiche (or sour cream thinned with some lime juice)
I garnish with thin slices of Spanish chorizo, or a cooked shrimp, or both
Sprig of cilantro

First I puréed the watermelon in my Cuisinart with a little splash of olive oil, and then poured that into a large bowl. Next I tossed the rest of the ingredients (tomato, cucumber, shallot, jalapeño, garlic, lime juice, a tablespoon or so of olive oil, a tablespoon of red wine vinegar, and a few splashes of hot sauce — remembering to set aside some tomato, cucumber, and jalapeño for the garnish) in the Cuisinart and blended well. I added this mixture to the watermelon purée, mixed well with a spoon, and then tasted. Usually I add a little more hot sauce at this point. I like the flavor to be mostly sweet fresh fruit/veggie flavor, with a little garlic and hot sauce kick. Once you get the balance to your taste, refrigerate soup for a bit to chill.

Finely chop some tomato, jalapeño, and cucumber for garnish. Serve soup in a bowl, topped with a drizzle of creme fraiche/sour cream, diced veggies, sprig of cilantro, and whatever else you want to try.

Leigh's photo of last night's gazpacho