It's tomato season! This easy, no-cook recipe is the perfect way to eat these seasonal beauties. Use the juiciest, freshest tomatoes you can find for this delicious and refreshing gazpacho recipe. Feel free to experiment with different colors and varieties of tomatoes from your garden, grocer, or farmer’s market – yellow, red, purple, orange, and heirloom are all fun ways to play with flavor! This recipe creates a delicate soup with fresh vegetable texture and lots of bright, summery flavor.

Ingredients (preferably organic and locally grown):

• 6 medium tomatoes, coarsely chopped

• 1 medium red bell pepper, coarsely chopped

• 1⁄2 medium green bell pepper, coarsely chopped

• 1-2 cloves garlic, cut into quarters

• 1⁄2 jalapeño or other hot pepper, chopped (optional)

• 1 large cucumber, peeled, seeded, and chopped

• 1 medium red onion, coarsely chopped

• 1⁄4 cup red wine vinegar

• 1⁄4 cup extra virgin olive oil

• Sea salt and black pepper

Instructions:

For garnish -

1. Select approximately 1 tablespoon each of green and red bell peppers, cucumber, and onion.
2. Finely chop and set aside for garnish.

For gazpacho -

1. Place remaining green and red bell pepper, cucumber, and onion pieces into a food processor.
2. Add all tomatoes, garlic, and jalapeño (if desired).
3. Process until smooth.
4. Reserve half of the vegetable mixture in a large bowl. Pour the other half through a fine strainer in batches, pushing to extract the juice into a smaller bowl. Discard the pulp.
5. Add the juice to the vegetable mixture and mix together, adding olive oil, salt and pepper to taste.
6. Chill for at least 1 hour to allow flavors to meld together.
7. To serve, ladle soup into bowls. Spoon fresh vegetable garnish on top.