Tonight's Dinner: Gazpacho with Shrimp

One of my favorite things about the summer is heirloom tomatoes are in season. I love heirlooms. There are so many flavors and varieties, you could probably have a whole book just devoted to recipes made of them. One of my favorite tomato recipes is gazpacho. It'd so easy to make and delicious on a warm summer afternoon or evening. It's also great because it's one hundred percent vegetarian. So it's light and healthy and probably gives you your daily serving of veggies in one sitting.

But if you're a meat eater like me, sometimes a vegetable soup, hot or cold, just isn't enough. These are the times I make my veggie gazpacho into a meat dish and add shrimp to it. It's just as delicious but now it's even more filling and will satisfy all those carnivores at the same time.

Gazpacho with shrimp

Ingredients

• 1 slice wheat bread
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 4 large heirloom tomatoes, chopped
• 1 Japanese cucumber, peeled and sliced
• 1 green bell pepper, deseeded and chopped
• 1 cup chopped purple onion
• 1 clove garlic, grated
• sea salt and pepper to taste
• 1 bottle V8 tomato juice
• 1 pound rock shrimp, peeled and deveined (optional)

Directions

• Place the first nine ingredients (through the black pepper) into a large bowl and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to 2 hours.
• Transfer ingredients from bowl into a food processor and chop until pureed.
• Transfer tomato puree to a large bowl. Pour in the V8. Ladle into 4 bowls. Add 1/2 cup of shrimp to each bowl if desired and serve.

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• 3-B Soup
• Fruit Soup
• Southern Salsa Stew