If I’ve ever opened my mouth about my Nantucket time to you before, you know what’s next: Nantucket cuisine officially ruined me on lots of different kinds of foods. Nantucket was the first place that I ever had scallops, which were at least 3 inches around and 2 inches thick. It was the first place I ever had crab cakes, which were 99% crab and 1% pure cocaine*. It was the first place I ever had rosé champagne, which we swilled from the glasses left on tables when beyond-tipsy guests departed the Bastille Day celebration at the Chanticleer, where I worked nights. And it was the first place I ever had gazpacho.
I was a lunch server at The Galley, a “casual” place right on the beach that entertained the likes of Tommy Hilfiger and Kathie Lee Gifford.** Every day, the soup would be some variation on gazpacho, and our patrons lapped it up at $8 a bowl… usually before the aforementioned crab cakes, which came with no side dishes and cost $22. At lunch.
Even with the price, I understood why the gazpacho was so popular. First, people on Nantucket have money to burn, and second, without fail, these soups were amazing. They struck the perfect balance of cool veggie flavor and heat, silky-smooth broth to delightful chunks, and came in a variety of flavors, from traditional tomato to green (no idea what was in it) to pineapple. Thus far, off the island, I have had very few gazpachos that didn’t taste like a) cold
supermarket spaghetti sauce or b) salsa straight out of a jar.
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But gazpacho is trendy, and I’ll grudgingly admit, I kind of like to be trendy. I hate it when people fawn over foods that haven’t really grabbed me, because it makes me feel like I’ve missed something. And I’ll also admit that gazpacho is summery and light and healthy and a great way to use up farm-box vegetables. So rather than abstaining based on the fact that no gazpacho would ever match up to the Galley’s, I figured I would make my own, gosh-darn-it. I’ll have enough veggies all summer for a family of 6. I’ll try a bunch!
As it’s not quite tomato season, the first inspiration struck when Scheidt and I had a giant half-watermelon left over after a party and people coming over for dinner. A quick Epicurious search for watermelon gazpacho, and tada! Appetizer.
Based on the recipe comments, I greatly reduced the mint here. I also left out the celery, as I find raw celery to be too stringy and bitter for my taste. The soup benefits from your attention in cutting the vegetables as uniformly as possible. Other than the chopping, it takes about 3 minutes to pull this together.
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Watermelon Gazpacho
Adapted from Epicurious
5 cups diced seedless watermelon, divided***
1 small cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 small jalapeno, seeded and minced
1/2 medium red onion, diced
1 tablespoon fresh mint, finely chopped
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
Plain yogurt, to serve
In your serving bowl, combine 1 cup each of the diced watermelon, cucumber, red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper and red onion, plus the minced jalapeno.
Put the remaining 4 cups of diced seedless watermelon and any leftover diced veggies in your blender or food processor, and purée until smooth.
Pour the watermelon purée into the serving dish over the diced veggies. Mix in the mint and red wine vinegar. Season (liberally) to taste with salt and fresh ground pepper. Serve with a drizzle of plain yogurt in each bowl.
*I swear, they seemed like it. Although this would have made them even more expensive.
**At the Chanticleer, meanwhile, I got to wait on Robert DeNiro. NO JOKE!
***We got this from half of an average-sized supermarket melon.
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Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
