Who Cooked It Better: Name That Gazpacho

With tomato season in full effect — well, except for DAD GANSIE’s garden because he doesn’t start his planting until very late witch means his yard yields vegetables until November — it means gazpacho time. And that run-on sentence was dedicated to DAD GANSIE.

Embarrassingly, I’ve never thrown together this classic summertime soup. I grew to love it during my summer in Barcelona where the women in my dorm would throw together this cooling, super fresh dish every day. It was really the only thing that would make me leave the beach and head to afternoon class.

Now, I’m not exactly sure what makes something a gazpacho, but I can tell you, these bloggers are not following any rules I’ve ever seen on the subject.

Top Left: Golden Gazpacho [Vegan for the People]
We love our vegan friends, even though BS can never shut the fuck up about bacon. This recipe is actually not as revolutionary as some other vegan dishes that have been featured on ES (I’m looking at you Hezbollah Tofu) and I say that as a compliment. Everyone always thinks that when something is vegetarian or vegan, it’s going to be some bastard child of what it should be. Vegan for the People chooses a beautiful yellow tomato, topped with a cilantro garnish to create his spin on this light meal.

Top Right: Greek Gazpacho [Kalofagas]
This Greek version starts off normal: red tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, vegetable cocktail (cheating?) and then goes freaking berserk when it calls for the use of a shot glass. Now I was excited when I saw those iceberg size cubes of feta, but just try to guess what that greenish globe in the middle is. It’s frozen olive oil! An olive oil ice cube! OMG! Kalofagas suggests either using a shot glass (filled halfway) or an ice cube tray to create these solid masses of oil, which will keep your soup flavorful and cold.

Bottom Left: Gazpacho Salad [Smitten Kitchen]
Okay, I can’t even pretend that I’m sure this belongs in today’s edition of WCiB. But, hey, if Smitten is going to put “gazpacho” in the recipe name, then I think it’s fair game. The gazpacho salad is more or less made up of the same ingredients as regular gazpacho, but not blended. The addition of homemade croutons makes this akin to panzanella, but not quite drinkable.

Bottom Right: Avocado-Sesame Gazpacho with Cilantro and Sauteed Shrimp [Croque-Camille]
Avocado! Now, there are no tomatoes in this recipe whatsoever, so I’m uncertain how this Camille girl can get away with calling it a gazpacho. However, she seduced me with her use of avocado. With an immersion blender, Camille combines avocado, tahini and fish stock among other ingredients to lay a base for her sauteed shrimp. Sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds, this is surely a slap in the face to the flourishing tomato crop.

Who Cooked [Gazpacho] Better?

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