Squid Cooks: Gazpacho

My wife does 99% of the cooking at our house and that's probably an underestimate.  She's really good at it and she finds it therapeutic at the end of the day.  I mostly stay out of her way.  All of our friends know this.  They've eaten her food, after all, so they appreciate her talents.

I do, however, know how to make a few things well.  A friend once asked me what I like to cook and I told her gazpacho.  She looked at me, puzzled.  "That's not the sort of thing a person makes if they don't do a lot of cooking."  Fair enough.  But I do it for a simple and admittedly selfish reason: if I don't make gazpacho, it's possible no one will.  And that would be horrible!

Making gazpacho isn't exactly difficult but it is labor-intensive - lots of vegetable chopping involved.  As you can see from the photo, I like mine chunky.  That's what my Cook's Illustrated recipe calls for and it's also my personal preference.  Food processors are a pain in the neck to clean and as a frequent dishwasher in the house (we do it all by hand), I'd prefer they be used as infrequently as possible.  The recipe is a really good one for anyone who like chunky gazpacho - explicit instructions on how to chop each ingredient effectively.  Besides, vegetables should crunch.  It's part of the appeal.

I think my favorite part about gazpacho is that with the quantity I make, there's always plenty for leftovers and gazpacho makes for excellent leftovers.  With all of the various acids intermingled, the soup keeps "cooking" over time so if anything, the flavors will be more richly blended and intensified the longer it lasts.  Mind you, it never lasts more than a couple days in my house.