5 days ago
On The French Riviera, Gazpacho Tastes Like Summer
The recipes in Makenna Held's new cookbook, Mostly French, are organized into two large sections: "Warmer Weather" and "Cooler Weather."
It is an elegantly simple way of pointing out a core truth about our appetites: What we want to eat often depends on the season we're in. It's hard to crave a steaming bowl of beef bourguignon when the humidity and heat are already off the charts, much less want to spend hours over a hot stove preparing it.
This recipe for yellow gazpacho is a cold preparation, which is to say you can make this without even looking at your stove.
(MORE: Have A Hot Date With This Palm Springs Date Shake)
Ripe tomatoes, which are just beginning to arrive in farmers' markets across the country, are blended with cantaloupe and cucumber for a fruity and refreshing twist on the classic dish. A few colorful garnishes – cherry tomatoes, smoked paprika – give it an elegant presentation in the bowl.
Held recommends serving it in the late afternoon to cool off guests at the beginning of a summer dinner party. The cookbook contains several variations on the classic dish.
Held knows a thing or two about cooking in the heat. In 2015, she bought Julia Child's former vacation home on the southern coast of France and opened a cooking school, La Peetch, on the property.
Of the region, Held writes, "The summer sea air is hot and thick. Villages swell with life. There are blazing beach days, dripping Popsicles and sticky hands, and food trucks parked along the shore that serve sandwiches and ice-cold beverages to barefoot kids and adults alike at prices that don't shock the wallet. It is so humid that your glasses will fog moving from the oppressive heat into an air-conditioned shop where you might wander just to cool off (if you're lucky enough to find one with A /C, they are rare)."
For those of us not quite lucky enough to spend our summers on the French Riviera, we can still enjoy a taste of her recipe for cooling off.
Serves 4-6 people
Ingredients
1 yellow bell pepper or orange, stemmed, seeded, and cut into large pieces
2 yellow tomatoes, about equal in weight to the bell pepper, stemmed and cut into thick wedges
1/2 seedless (English) or 1 standard cucumber, peeled, seeds scooped out of the standard cucumber
About 1 cup seeded and chunked cantaloupe
1/2 white onion or yellow, coarsely chopped
4 garlic cloves
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon turmeric
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Fine sea salt
Garnishes: Halved cherry tomatoes, smoked paprika, and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
1. Add the bell pepper, tomatoes, cucumber, cantaloupe, onion, garlic, oil, turmeric, lemon and more salt to taste to a blender and process until very smooth. Season with salt and blend well to combine (if using a standard blender, blend the ingredients in batches and combine in a bowl). Pour into a medium bowl.
2. Cover and refrigerate until well chilled, at least 2 hours. Serve chilled, topping each serving with some cherry tomatoes, a pinch of paprika and a crack or two of pepper.
MORE ON
Make Mint Juleps With This Simple Syrup
Feeling Spicy? Make This Thai Chili Oil
Make This Etouffee With Leftover Boiled Crawfish
writer Wyatt Williams is exploring the relationship between climate, food, agriculture, and the natural world.
