(Sorry for the lack of photo. I used all my raw ingredients before I thought to post about this.)
To quote Neil Simon’s “Biloxi Blues”, again, “It’s hot. It’s like Africa hot. If it’s going to be this hot, I’m not sure I can stay.”
Whew! We are in the dog days here in Central VA. Hot and humid and even after a normal dog walk of 2 miles, followed by a brief burst of calisthenics, I’m dripping and enervated. The last thing I want to do is cook anything. Even the toaster/broiler/little convection oven is throwing off too much heat in the kitchen. But, I’m still hungry. So while I cooled down from the walk, I chopped up some leftover vegetables and threw them in the blender with some liquids. Voila! A sort of gazpacho for breakfast. (Full disclosure: my mom brought an incredible batch of the real stuff made from a recipe from the Heart in Hand restaurant cookbook to the beach this year. That’s why it was foremost in mind.)
I say “sort of” since this isn’t the official recipe. I just guessed about ratios and what to add. It doesn’t use bread, I am out of basil, and I had a Serrano pepper that made it into the mix along with a little Splenda. But, it was fast, easy, delicious, and best of all, cold.
Easy’s Breakfast Guess-pacho
Two anemic looking ribs of celery
A handful of frozen cherry tomatoes
About half a green pepper, seeded and chopped
Maybe a 1/4 of a cucumber, peeled
A bit (again, a 1/4 of a medium?) of red onion, chopped
1 Serrano pepper (or use some hot sauce)
A shake of garlic salt (or a small clove, peeled.)
A couple of shakes of dried oregano
A good grind of black pepper and a little salt
A really generous slosh or more of olive oil
A glass of tomato juice (V-8, Bloody Mary Mix, whatever you’ve got)
A generous pour of red wine vinegar
1 packet of Splenda.
Blend all the ingredients together, thin with water if necessary, and serve in a tall glass.
(Pro Tip: if you have leftovers, thin a bit more with water, add horseradish and a dash of Worcestershire sauce. Presto! Bloody Mix.)
