Gazpacho!

Ah, summer. The best time of year for light, colorful eating. I haven't cooked in awhile because of the heat and it was starting to make me sad. So today, I spent some quality time in the kitchen without having to turn on the stove.

Disclaimer: I've never made gazpacho before, and I did not follow a recipe this time. I just looked around the farmers' market for stuff I thought would taste good with tomatoes. The following recipe resulted. Pardon the pinkness of the photo, I froze a few cubes of soup and ran it through our snow cone machine. The resulting ice bits really reflected the light off what should be a red soup.

• 3 lbs tomatoes, the redder and riper the better
• 4 tablespoons good olive oil
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp fresh ground black pepper, plus more to taste
• 1 tsp Worchestershire sauce, or to taste
• a handful of colorful cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 persian cucumber, finely diced
• 1/2 small red onion, finely diced
• a handful each of chives and Italian parsley, chopped

Puree the tomatoes in a blender. I peeled them first because I wasn't planning to strain the gazpacho. I know traditionally it's a thin soup, but why waste all those fibers and nutrients? I like chunky soup. Add the olive oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, Worchestershire sauce, and a teaspoon eac of chives and parsley. Blend well and taste for seasoning.

Cover and chill the gazpacho for at least four hours. Skim off the topmost layer of white foam. If you want your soup very watery, skim off more. Stir the remaining soup just before serving, and top with handfuls of cucumber, red onion, and herbs.

To eat with the soup, I got a loaf of Rockenwagner pretzel bread.

And because I found the most beautiful, perfectly ripe melon at the farmers' market, I stopped by Bay Cities Deli for some Prosciutto d'Parma. A perfectly filling, well-rounded, cool meal was just the ticket tonight.