Fruity Green Gazpacho

Sweet peppers, mild vegetables, grapes and mint make a refreshing chilled soup with a bit of an edge.

Do you ask for recipes when you taste something yummy--and homemade? I sure do. Even a vague "well, I used a bit of this, a smidgen of that, and a handful of the other thing" is enough of a jumping off point for me. When I've got the right blend of vegetables from our community supported agriculture (CSA) farm share, it's time to grab the appropriate fruits and give it a whirl. Literally.

Last September at a Cool Soups for a Hot Cause fundraiser I had a refreshing green gazpacho. It was sweet, but had a bit of edginess to let me know it wasn't entirely a fruit soup. [I've got my family's Scandinavian Fruit Soup on the blog if you want an entirely fruit soup.] After my second helping--which came after tasting ALL THE SOUPS on offer--I asked how it was made. The generous cook behind the tureen told me it had white grape juice and mint, and that she'd used the recipe from The Silver Palate Cookbook(Amazon Affiliate link). I made a mental note to find it, but after googling a bunch I never found that recipe.

Instead, I found this recipe for a green gazpacho without white grape juice. That looks good, but not the sweet-with-a-bite soup I'd enjoyed. I kept on searching. This recipe has the grape juice, but also jalapeño and the soup I liked was not spicy. Alanna shares her recipe--a more precise version with honeydew and grapes--here.

In the end I cobbled together a few ingredients in the blender and hoped for the best. The result was cool and creamy, sweet and just a little bit edgy, and we enjoyed drinking it. I cannot find my paper with precise measurements yet I'm going to war with the troops I have so I'm deliberately vague in the recipe below. This is clearly one of those 'taste as you go' situations.

One thing I will say--the texture would probably be better if I'd used a food processor. Throwing everything in the blender sure was easy and we drank our gazpacho like a smoothie, but next time I'll try the food processor. And not lose the paper with the amounts.

Fruity Green Gazpacho

1 small shallot, chopped (about 2 Tablespoons)

about 1 cup chopped yellow bell pepper

about 1 cup chopped celery

about 1 to 1 ½ cups chopped peeled seeded cucumber

1 avocado

about 1 cup green grapes

about ½ cup fresh mint leaves

about 2 cups white grape juice (you could sub apple juice)

salt and pepper--I have no idea how much--taste as you go!

I dumped everything (but the avocado pit and peel) into the Vitamix and spun it until smooth. Next time I'd use my food processor to chop. Adding the ingredients in the order listed, with a few pulses in between each addition to incorporate, the result would have a more spoonable texture which I think I'd like better. And still, easy clean up.

A behind the scenes--taking a shot on a bright day using a dark foam board to cut down on the incoming light.

For other recipes using avocado, please see my Avocado Recipes Collection. For other recipes using celery, please see my Celery Recipes Collection. For other recipes using cucumber, please see my Cucumber Recipes Collection. For other recipes using grapes, please see my Grape Recipes Collection. For other recipes using peppers, please see my Pepper Recipes Collection. These collections are part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, a resource for folks like me looking for inspiration when faced with a farm share box of produce.