Garden Soup
It’s feast or famine with fresh tomatoes and peppers in the northwest as well as many other climates, and the window to enjoy them always closes too soon. I wish we had more time to utilize these vegetables in their fresh state but that’s life, so now is the last chance for a tomato party! This is one good way to use up a lot of your end of season tomatoes for a fresh recipe. Garden soup, a cold tomato soup but unlike Gazpacho I like to leave the seeds and skin on the tomatoes as this is where much of the vitamin C is hiding, I also like the textures of the vegetables rustically blended. The ingredients can be adjusted to your liking, adding a variety of different vegetables herbs and spices and make large or small batches. Raw onion or garlic will make the soup very zesty so start with a small amount and add more to taste. If you are unfamiliar with the Jimmy Nardello Pepper it is a great heirloom to grow in cooler climates and fills a vital niche as it will thrive here, is sweet, and freezes perfectly. I like this recipe for a snack, lunch, or a first course for dinner.
End of Summer Garden soup
3-5 large heirloom tomatoes
2-3 Jimmy Nardello Peppers or 1 red bell pepper
1 cucumber
a piece of a red onion
fresh basil
olive oil
apple cider vinegar
sea salt
Peel cucumber and scrape out seeds with a spoon, remove stems from tomatoes, and stem and seeds from peppers. Cut a chunk off of a red onion, alternatively use 1 clove of garlic. All vegetables can be roughly chopped and just tossed right into the blender. Drizzle with a little olive oil, or a lot, whatever. Also, add about 2 tbsps of the vinegar, several leaves of fresh basil and sprinkle with salt to taste. Blend again until smooth, taste, and adjust to your liking. The flavor and spiciness of this soup can be adjusted in many ways with the amounts of onion and vinegar added as well as the addition of cayenne, or hot peppers. When you got it dialed in put the soup in the fridge for at least a few hours but it’s best when left to rest overnight. Stir it up and garnish with more fresh basil & olive oil.
by the handful 
