At last: the avalanche of lovely bright red tomatoes you've been longing for. All year you've been suckered into buying supermarket tomatoes that looked gorgeous but tasted like styrofoam, but now the real thing is here. And your zucchini looks really promising -- how nice it will be to have it for supper whenever you want it, you think. You're so glad you planted it.
But wait -- your avalanche of summer fruit all arrives at the same time. And the zucchini are alarmingly fecund -- there are just the two of you at home now, and you realize after a few days that you wouldn't be able to eat them all if you had zucchini at every meal. Staying ahead of the basil is also a challenge -- you love pesto, but it's not something you want to be eating every day. Not with all that zucchini you already consume.
Give some away. Sneak across to your neighbor's house when he's asleep and leave some on his porch. Make pesto and freeze it, for a taste of summer in the dead of winter. The good times aren't permanent.
But neither are the bad times. There is a rhythm to every life, from that of a tomato to that of a human being, and we don't stay up -- or down -- forever.
Zucchini Gazpacho
Place in food processor:
1 large zucchini, unpeeled, in chunks
1/2 green pepper, in chunks
2 small tomatoes, quartered
1/4 sweet onion, in chunks
handful of fresh oregano (or mint or parsley, if that's what you have)
2 cloves fresh garlic
Whir together until everything is chopped, 8 pulses or so. Add:
1/4 cup orange juice
1 tbsp lime juice
1 slice bread, torn into chunks
Tabasco to taste
a few grinds of black pepper
1/4 tsp salt
Whir together again, another 8 pulses or so. Spoon into bowls. Drizzle each with a little olive oil and garnish with oregano or mint or parsley leaves. Serves 4 and doesn't heat up your kitchen.
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