Seasonal Vegetables, Use What’s Fresh Now

Videnovich Farms has a great listing of what fruits and vegetables are in season each month in the magazine Edible Chicago. I thought a chilled gazpacho might be in order for the hot days we may or may not see in Chicago (Chicago weather joke)! You can pick up a copy of Edible Chicago at Farmer's Markets and grocery stores.

This month’s fresh fruits and vegetables include:

Fruit

• Apples (summer)
• Apricots
• Blueberries
• Cherries
• Nectarines
• Peaches
• Raspberries
• Strawberries

Vegetables

• Artichokes
• Basil
• Snap and Green Beans
• Beets
• Broccoli
• Cabbage
• Carrots
• Celery
• Cilantro
• Corn
• Cucumbers
• Eggplant
• Garlic
• Green Onion
• Horseradish Root
• Kale
• Kohlrabi
• Lettuce
• Mushrooms
• Okra
• Peppers
• Spinach
• Sprouts
• Summer Squash
• Swiss Chard
• Tomatoes
• Turnips

The recipe you see in the picture uses heirloom tomatoes of various colors I picked up at a local farmer’s market, so the color of the soup is orangy-pink, but the taste cannot be beat. This is my favorite time of year, you can get wonderfully fresh and flavorful tomatoes, I could eat a bowl of them for dinner with nothing more than a little salt.

Gazpacho
Makes 8 servings

1 garlic clove, halved
½ onion
1 large cucumber, peeled
4 tomatoes, blanched and shocked
½ green pepper, deseeded
1/8 cup white wine vinegar
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
pinch ground black pepper

Put serving bowls in refrigerator.
Take ½ tomato and 1/8 of cucumber, small dice and reserve for garnish.
Rub inside of chilled bowls with garlic.
Combine garlic and remaining items in a food processor and blend until finely chopped.
Place chopped liquid mixture in bowl and top with tomato and cucumber garnish.

The next post is going to tackle some of the great fruit of the season, can you say SMOOTHIES?