by encore magazine voted Best vegetarian Food Lovey’s Celebrating 11 Years Your LOCAL Health Food Store and Café Organic Produce and Groceries Salad, Soup, Hot & Juice bars Cafe • Catering • Supplements Health & Beauty Aids Wheat & Gluten-Free foods specials: New Chapter 25% off Barleans 15% off • Soloray 25% off 910-509-0331 Landfall Shopping Center • 1319 Military Cutoff Road www.loveysmarket.com The cold, tomato-based, raw vegetable soup gazpacho is famous in southern Spain, where summers as hot as those on North Carolina’s southern coast beg light meals — no cooking required. Fresh-pressed tomato juice and hand-diced vegetables are essential, says chef Mark Milner of Milner’s Café & Catering in north Wilmington. He says the juice gives the soup a solid foundation. Don’t try shortcuts like using a food processor for some of the vegetables or using canned tomato juice, Milner warns. “The vegetables lose their crispiness within minutes after being submitted to the food processor’s blade,” he says. Consider adding fresh mint, cilantro, basil and dill (yes, all four). At Milner’s, the chef sometimes adds grilled shrimp and scallops. 88 WBM june 2014 6 vine-ripened plum or roma tomatoes, cut into small cubes 1 cucumber, washed, unpeeled and cut into small cubes 1 green bell pepper, washed, stemmed, seeded and cut into small cubes 1 small Bermuda onion, peeled and cut into small cubes 1 garlic clove, chopped ¼ cup California extra-virgin olive oil 1/ 8 cup red wine vinegar 6 basil leaves, julienned or chopped 2 cups of tomato water (see cook’s note) 1 teaspoon sea or kosher salt ½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper Dash of sugar or honey (optional) Cook’s note: Tomato juice is the key to this dish. Look for heirloom or vine-ripened tomatoes from a local market. Preparation for Tomato Juice (broth for soup): Use a sharp knife to score an x on the bottom end of each heirloom tomato. Drop tomatoes into boiling water for 30 seconds. Cool tomatoes in an ice bath for a few minutes and then peel off the skins. Puree the skinned tomatoes in a food processor and then pour the puree into a fine sieve placed over a bowl. Use a wooden spoon to press out remaining juice. Preparation for Tomato Dice: Slice plum tomatoes lengthwise and, with a spoon, deseed into the same fine sieve on top of a bowl. Any tomato juice will be collected and then added to the soup. Discard the seeds. Dice the deseeded plum tomatoes and add them to reserved tomato juice. Dice remaining vegetables and add them to tomato juice. Add fresh herbs, olive oil, vinegar and Seasonings. Serve immediately or chill gazpacho and serve cold with crusty bread. Makes 8-10 servings. Source: Chef Mark Milner, Milner’s Café & Catering ALLISON POTTER e f
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