Recipe: Green Gazpacho (blender, frozen and shaved)

GREEN GAZPACHO

"A neat play on gazpacho, this "soup" is frozen and SHAVED for serving, creating an incredibly light texture that slowly melts down into a smooth, cold soup in your mouth. It is refreshing on a hot summer day, a gazpacho version 2.0, if you will."

Note that you'll need three ice cube trays to accomplish the freezing.

2 cups (250 grams) shelled raw pistachios
3/4 pound (340 grams) seedless green grapes (about 1 bunch), stems removed
2 pounds (930 grams) honeydew melon (about 1), peeled, seeded, and cut into 1-inch (2.5 cm) chunks
3/4 pound (340 grams) large tomatillos (4 to 5), husked and quartered
4 baby cucumbers, peeled and sliced
3 scallions, cut into 1-inch (2.5 cm) batons
1 jalapeno pepper, peeled and sliced
1 3/4 teaspoons (10.5 grams) fine sea salt
About 3 tablespoons (45 grams) pistachio oil
Fleur de sel
Small handful of herb flowers or thinly sliced leaves*

In a large bowl, combine the pistachios, grapes, melon, tomatillos, cucumbers, scallions, jalapeno, and salt and mix well. Divide the mixture between 2 gallon-size zip-top bags and make sure they are securely closed. Lay the bags out flat, one on top of the other, on a tray or baking sheet and put them in the freezer. Freeze until solid, at least 8 hours.

Transfer the bags to the refrigerator to let the mixture thaw, at least 12 hours. (If you are in a hurry, you can thaw them under cold running water for 1 hour.) The fruits and vegetables will soften and start releasing their liquid and this will help to get the most flavor out of them when you puree them.

Transfer the thawed contents of 1 bag to a large blender. Turn the blender on low speed and slowly increase the power to high speed, pureeing the mixture until completely smooth, 2 to 4 minutes.

Strain the soup through a fine-mesh sieve into a large pitcher. Pour the soup into ice cube trays and put the trays in the freezer. Repeat with the second bag of soup. Freeze the soup in the ice cube trays until it is rock solid, at least 6 hours.

At this point you can remove it from the trays and store the cubes in zip-top bags in the freezer for up to a week.

TO PREPARE THE SOUP:
Chill a large metal bowl in the freezer for at least 1 hour before you are planning to serve the soup. Put 8 soup bowls into the refrigerator to chill.

Set up a food processor with the thin slicing blade. Turn the food processor on and feed the frozen soup cubes through the feed tube and shave the soup. When the bowl of the food processor is halfway filled, stop the machine and transfer the shaved soup to the bowl in the freezer. Repeat with the remaining soup. Grated gazpacho may be kept in the freezer for up to 1 hour.

TO SERVE:
Put equal portions of the frozen, shaved gazpacho into each of the 8 chilled serving bowls. Drizzle about a teaspoon of pistachio oil over each serving and finish with a sprinkling of fleur de sel and a few assorted herb flowers.

*Almost all herbs flower in the summertime and we've added these small blossoms to the soup for great intense bursts of flavor. We are particularly fond of chive, basil, and thyme blossoms, which are usually abundant in our garden and herb pots. You can also sprinkle thinly sliced herbs over the top of the shaved ice, if you can't find blossoms.

Makes 8 servings
Used by permission to Recipelink.com from Ten Speed Press
Adapted from source: Maximum Flavor by H. Alexander Talbot