VIDEO

Kitchen Idiot

I have no idea what I am doing in my garden, but it seems to be working.

When we moved into our Brooklyn "garden apartment" in August 2005 the yard was a dirt pit. The next spring I planted a lawn after my father-in law dropped off a dozen 30-pound bags of soil and left. Now we have lush grass to lounge on.

This year I chose to push the green thumb. I planted a bunch of herbs and nine tomato plants -- early girl and cherry -- and kicked back and watched them grow. (Hardly. Gardening is tough, a daily committment.)

Now it's time for the payoff.

A bounty of tomatoes is starting to ripen, and while I'm excited to say "let's have a tomato and mozzarella salad" and step outside to pick the tomatoes, I'm feeling a bit melancholy that I'm eating my charges. And heaven forbid my wife Izabela touch them -- I was the one watering, feeding and tending to them as they grew from seedlings to 6-foot-tall behemoths. I should be the one who metes out the death sentence.

If it has to be done, though, there's no better way to honor the tomato than with gazpacho -- or as my high school Spanish textbook called it, typical Spanish soup.

Besides being a perfect antidote to the hot and sticky days of August, gazpacho has a sentimental place in my family. Izabela made white gazpacho -- almonds, grapes and garlic are the key ingredients -- the night we met.

Gazpacho is a chilled soup, and when made with the freshest vegetables, herbs and spices it can be dreamy. A few crunchy slurps and the sluggish gait of summer is immediately replaced by a refreshingly buoyant strut.

Gazpacho was originally an Andalusian soup made with stale bread, salt, garlic and olive oil. Over time it evolved into the popular liquid salad of tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, garlic and jalapenos that we associate with the name.

The debate about gazpacho is generally limited to: chunky or blended? The hand-chopped version can look a lot like a runny salsa, with big pieces of vegetables and a moderate amount of liquid.

I prefer the mostly blended version. Blending the tomatoes turns the soup a pinkish color, but it's worth the trade-off for not having to chew my soup. I want to do as little work as possible in the heat.

For this, we chop the tomatoes by hand, then use a food processor for the other ingredients, chopping each ingredient separately to vary size and texture. Once all the ingredients are mixed together, we blend anywhere from a quarter to a third of the volume and then mix it back into the soup. Unless you really go to town with a blender, this soup will have a slightly crunchy texture.

One ingredient that's really too small to put in the food processor is the jalapeno. When removing the seeds from the spicy chile, wear plastic gloves -- the oil burns when you touch it to a cut or a sensitive part of your face. It's also hard to wash off. Trust me.

Some recipes call for sherry vinegar, others prefer lemon or lime. Izabela chose the vinegar because she thought it made the soup more authentically Spanish (this is not based on any historical information).

If you can't wait for the soup to chill, you can add several ice cubes after you've poured the soup into bowls or cups. Top it with some croutons to symbolize the stale bread history -- and because it tastes good -- and drizzle extra-virgin olive oil to finish.

All that's left is to slurp away the summertime blues.

___

GAZPACHO

Start to finish: 1 hour 15 minutes (15 minutes active)

Servings: 8

8 large tomatoes, peeled, seeded and finely chopped (about 5 cups)

3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 yellow bell peppers, seeded and coarsely chopped

1 large Vidalia onion, diced

1 large cucumber, peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped (about 1 cup)

2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced

3 tablespoons sherry wine vinegar

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Cayenne pepper, to taste (optional)

1 cup croutons

Extra-virgin olive oil

In a large mixing bowl, combine the tomatoes and garlic. Set aside.

In a food processor, combine the bell peppers, onion and cucumber. Pulse until finely chopped, then transfer to the bowl with the tomatoes. Add the jalapenos and mix well. Add the vinegar, mix again, then season with salt, pepper and cayenne.

Return about 1/3 of the mixture to the food processor and process until smooth. Return to the rest of the soup and mix.

Cover and chill for at least an hour. Adjust the salt and pepper, as needed. To serve, ladle soup into individual serving bowls, then top with croutons mounded in the center. Drizzle each serving with about 1 tablespoon olive oil.

___

Kitchen Idiot Howie Rumberg is an asap reporter and columnist based in New York. You can e-mail him at hrumberg(at)ap.org.

___

Want to comment? Sound off at soundoffasap@ap.org .

©2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy.