Green Gazpacho for Not-Cold-Soup-People
This week I went to Burlington, VT, ate homegrown corn & potatoes, enjoyed PB & chocolate chip cookies in cooler weather. Plus a recipe for Herby Green Gazpacho.
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This week, my partner and I took the ferry across Lake Champlain for a day trip to Burlington, Vermont. Luckily, according to this detailed page of travel requirements on Burlington’s website we didn’t need to do anything special before visiting since we’ve been in a county that’s maintained very low cases of the coronavirus.
The city was bopping. We spent most of our time on the waterfront and strolling through the Church Street Marketplace. Church Street was full of outdoor diners and pedestrians enjoying the nice weather. There were street performers drawing small crowds and at least 95% mask compliance. It felt safe and near normal, a nice preview for what's hopefully waiting for us back in Brooklyn.
We ate an open air lunch at Sweetwaters, sharing a big plate of Pulled Pork Nachos that was piled high with my favorite Vermont born Cabot Cheese. We followed that up with a two scoop cone of Milk & Cookies ice cream from Ben & Jerry’s, which also happens to be my favorite ice cream brand. (Phish Food for life.)
What I’m Cooking
We had two newcomers join us from the gardens this week. Little, dusty rose colored apples from a tree in the backyard, that were crisp and tart, and palm sized new potatoes dug from the ground by my dad. We're still bringing in corn that is so sweet and tender compared to commercially grown, and reminds me of this New Yorker article earnestly imploring that we grow our own golden ears, even in New York City.
Herby Green Gazpacho I bought mint last week, but lost track of it and what it was I had planned to use it for. With the abundance of garden cucumbers, I settled on cucumber mint gazpacho, based on this recipe with many liberties taken (my adapted recipe is below).
Both of my parents declared themselves, "not cold soup people,” before taking skeptical tastes. Then, my mom said, “Zing!” and they both proceeded to fill a bowl for lunch. It was then described as, “refreshing,” and “balanced,” and, “so flavorful,” and if I remember correctly, “perfect!” These are the kind of kitchen moments I love—turning the skeptic into a believer.
Something for Dinner
Nacho Night using the sheet pan nacho method I wrote about previously. We piled these high with all the usual suspects—onion, tomato, avocado, cheese—and used a vegetarian ground beef substitute with Annie’s Black Refried Beans for the protein.
Something Sweet
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Crinkle Cookies There were several days with temperatures in the 50s and 60s this week, so I took a break from the flavors of Summer and returned to one of my favorite combos—peanut butter and chocolate. Early in Quarantine a food friend and Meal Prep Chef colleague, was making lots of mesmerizing and easy to follow cooking videos on Instagram, including this one for flourless peanut butter cookies.
I didn’t have any Nutella, so I used more PB than called for. I also had a little fun with the second tray and mixed rainbow sprinkles into the bowl of sugar for rolling. If you try this recipe, I highly recommend using wet hands when rolling the dough to prevent it from sticking all over your fingers. (This trick works with meatballs too.)
My early Quarantine baking included these Giant Chocolate Chip Cookies, which introduced me to the practice of banging the bottom of the cookie sheet on the wrack throughout baking. It was a revelation. The cookies spread out wide creating ripples of crispy edges and chewy centers.
I repeated that process with the Peanut Butter Cookies and was pleased with the results. I did not, however, heed the warning about the cookies spreading A LOT and packed 12 onto one sheet, which all ending up bumping into one another, but they came apart easily after a few minutes of cooling.
Weekly Bread(s)
Rosemary Sourdough x2 using Elaine Boddy’s cold bake method for the first time. The cold boule is scored and put into a cold Dutch oven, which is then put into a cold oven. The oven is set to reach 464F and the timer is set for 55 minutes. The lid stays on for the full bake.
I may never go back to preheating my oven after trying this method. Not only is it less time overall (no waiting for the oven to preheat), but the bread was perfect. The inside seemed more pillowy soft than previous loaves, and the crust was a gorgeous golden brown.
It paired beautifully with the gazpacho and we devoured the whole loaf within 24 hours. It was so good I made a second one later in the week, and baked it for two additional minutes. Now I just need to work on my scoring. Any lame recommendations?
Recipe: Herby Green Gazpacho
Serves 4-6
6-8 cups cucumber, seeded and chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
juice from 1 lemon
1-2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup fresh mint leaves
1/4 of an onion, rough chop
2 cloves garlic, crushed*
2 tablespoons plain yogurt
1/2 teaspoon dry dill
1-2 teaspoons salt
several cracks of fresh black pepper
Instructions
Place roughly half of the chopped cucumbers into a high speed blender and puree. If the blender is getting stuck, add any of the liquid ingredients to help the blades move. Once the first half of the cucumbers has been liquified add all of the remaining ingredients and blend on high for 2-3 minutes.
Taste the gazpacho for seasoning and texture. Adjust with salt as needed. If the soup tastes thin, use more salt. I added salt in three increments before I was satisfied with the seasoning.
If the texture isn’t smooth continue blending on high speed for several more minutes. If the soup is too thick, slowly add more olive oil or water until you reach your desired consistency. Serve at room temp or chilled.
*This is a very garlic-y soup, which is the way I like it. If you’re not a big fan of raw garlic try adding just one clove to start, or skip it altogether.
Thanks!
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