GAZPACHO

TODAY IS THE END OF SUMMER. I promised cucumbers a while back when I mentioned peppers and tomatoes and there isn't a better way to describe cucumbers (besides salad) than Gazpacho. 

Recently, on my last trip to Milwaukee, the high point of my eating experience (I was only there 65 hours) was in a little village called Mequon about 15 miles due north on Highway 43 from Milwaukee on the way to Port Washington, Sheboygan and Green Bay - go Packers! My friend Linda and I often go to Cafe 1505 for our ritual lunch repast of delicious egg salad sandwiches - she's a vegan but will eat eggs - and ice tea. I was visiting on Labor Day weekend and they had gazpacho as the soup of the day and it was without any doubt one of the best gazpachos I have ever eaten. Keeping that in my memory banks, and referring to Simon Hopkinson - again - I decided to make some of my own a while back and here is what I did.

6 tbs. red wine vinegar

1 cup ice water

1 cucumber, peeled and chopped

4 sweet peppers (1 of each: orange, yellow, red and green) cored, seeded and chopped

1 lb. very ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped or 

1 12 oz. can chopped tomatoes

5 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

1 small onion, chopped

8-12 drops Tabasco

1 tbs. ketchup

salt and pepper

1 1/4 lb. ice cubes

1 cup olive oil

Puree all of the ingredients together in a blender, but use only half of the peppers and cucumbers and only half of the tomatoes. Stir in the olive oil and mix in the other half of the chopped vegetables (I like it chunky). Chill if not serving immediately. Garnish with either a fresh basil or a mint leaf and serve with croutons (optional). 

This yields about 8 cups of soup and can serve up to 12 people in a pinch.

CUCUMBER SALAD

This is the simplest thing in the world and utterly delicious. 

1 seedless cucumber, peeled but leaving green stripes to make a green and white border, and sliced on a mandolin on the thinnest setting possible (you want transparent slices).

1 small onion, sliced paper thin

1 small clove garlic smashed and minced to a paste

salt and pepper

1 tbs. olive oil

1/4 cup white wine vinegar

Place the cucumbers in a large bowl with the onions and garlic. Salt and pepper to taste and let sit for 15 minutes. Add the olive oil and vinegar and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Cucumbers should be bathed in juice but not swimming in it. Serve cold.