Gazpacho

This delicious cold soup was a perfect meal for this hot August day.  Grandmaman and Papa enjoyed the soup and "dinner on the deck".

1/2 red onion diced

 2 cloves garlic, minced

1 large cucumber, diced

5 roma tomatoes, diced

1 zucchini, diced

2 stalks celery, diced

1 dash salt to taste

3.8 liters tomato juice

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/8 cup red wine vinegar

2 tbsp. white sugar

6 dashes tabasco

1 dash black pepper to taste

In a food processor combine the minced garlic with half the red onion, half the cucumber, half the tomato, half the zucchini, half the celery, half the tomato juice, olive oil, red wine vinegar, sugar, tabasco and salt. Pulse until well blended.

Pour into a large bowl and add the rest of the tomato juice, and half of the remaining onion, cucumber, tomato, zucchini and celery.  The rest of the diced vegetables will be used for a garnish.

Stir the mixture together and check the seasonings, adding more salt if needed.  Chill the soup for at least a couple of hours.
Stir mixture together and check seasonings, adding salt if needed. Chill soup for at least a couple of hours; soup needs to be very cold!
Remove the soup from the fridge and stir. Check the seasonings one last time. Ladle into a bowl and garnish with remaining diced vegetables, a sliver of fresh avocado, sour cream, and cilantro. Finally, place a grilled shrimp on the top and serve with slices of bread grilled with olive oil.

These are the shrimp before we grilled them.  We grilled them for 2 minutes on one side, then turned them and grilled them for another 2 minutes.