Gazpacho – A Dish Best Served Cold

I don’t know why but the story I’m about to tell you makes me laugh every time I think about it, but for a strange reason it just does. The other day I was at the gym doing my usual thing. There was a guy near me that was using the lying leg curl machine. Let’s call him The Victim.

After he finished up his sets, The Victim did the nice thing and went to go grab paper towels to wipe the machine down. Now we happened to be in an area of the gym that didn’t have towels nearby so he had to wander a bit away of out direct sight. As he walked off, Tall Sweaty Man arrived and jumped on his machine.

This man was sweating like he had walked through the dessert and stopped off at a sauna afterwards. Tall Sweaty Man did one set and immediately left. A few seconds later The Victim arrived, towels in hand. He reached down to wipe and paused… then he looked down at the front of him and back at the machine.

OMG, the look on his face! Priceless. He had no idea what happened while he was gone. Now in Tall Sweaty Man’s defense, I don’t know if this move was purposely done or if he is usually a non-wiper. I wonder if The Victim ever figured out what had happened or if he assumed he’s developed a sweat problem. 😉

The things you see at the gym. This week I tried a new soup experiment in the form of gazpacho. All my prior soups have been warm/hot as you would expect soup to be. Gazpacho, like revenge, is a dish best served cold. Hee hee, The Victim needs to try his hand at gazpacho. 😉

This was a tangy, yummy soup that I really enjoyed. It got even better the day after as leftovers. I think the flavors had more time to blend together. It was wonderful with shrimp, but I may try it with sliced grilled chicken next time.

The farmer’s market this week had yellow cherry tomatoes so I used those for a different pop of color in the garnish. You can use any color cherry or grape tomatoes you like. This is the perfect soup for hot summer days since you don’t have to heat the kitchen. Not to mention leftovers are a breeze.

Just ladle out and you’ve got a second meal. Bam!

Grilled Shrimp Gazpacho

• 1 lb medium cooked shrimp, tails removed
• 2 cups cherry tomatoes
• 3/4 cup onion, chopped
• 1 cup red pepper, chopped
• 2 cups cucumber, chopped
• 28 oz can San Marzano tomatoes, drained
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1 Tbsp lime juice
• 2 Tbsp champagne vinegar
• 1/4 tsp salt

Take 8 cherry tomatoes and slice them into quarters. Combine the sliced tomatoes in a small bowl with 1/4 cup onion, 1/4 cup red pepper, and 1/4 cup cucumber. I chopped my veggies pretty small for this step. Toss to mix and set aside.

Combine the remaining cherry tomatoes, red pepper, onion, cucumber in a food processor or blender. Add the San Marzano tomatoes. I opened the can and used a fork to remove all of the tomatoes instead of draining them. I saved the juice left in the can for another recipe later. Add the garlic, lime juice, vinegar, and salt.

Pulse in the blender or processor until as fine or chunky as you like. I blended enough to remove the lumps, but not completely pureed like tomato soup. Put the soup in the fridge to chill for about 30 minutes. Multi-task and go walk the dog, play with the kids, run around the house.

Once the soup is cold, divide evenly into bowls and top with the cooked shrimp and garnish with the remaining veggies from the first step. Makes 4 servings at approximately 200 calories each – 24g protein, 21g carbs, and 2g fat.

I topped our version with sliced avocado too since I had an avocado sitting in the fridge begging to be used. You can get creative and do tortilla strips, shredded cheese, croutons.

Have you ever tried a cold soup?