Yellow Tomato & Gin Gazpacho

Yellow tomatoes are my favourite. Well, yellow AND orange. They are so sweet that it almost feels like you are eating a fruit instead of a vegetable, and I guess, technically you are since a tomato really is a fruit. 

Yellow and orange tomatoes are also less acidic than their red cousins, so they do generally need a splash of citrus to balance out their flavour and emphasize their delicate nature. Lime or lemon juice does the trick here.

Yellow Tomato & Gin Gazpacho

8 yellow tomatoes, quartered and seeded (about 3 lbs.)
1 medium yellow pepper, cored, seeded and chopped
1 English cucumber, peeled and chopped
1 jalapeño pepper, cored, seeded and chopped
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 cup gin (Tanqueray if you have it)
1/4 cup Panko breadcrumbs
1/2 red onion, peeled and sliced
1 clove garlic, peeled and sliced
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup good quality olive oil
1/2 tablespoon salt
1/2 teaspoon white pepper

Directions:

Roughly chop the cucumber, bell pepper, tomatoes and red onion into 1-inch cubes. Put each vegetable into a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse until it is coarsely chopped. I like my smoothish but you can even keep a bit of each vegetable aside, finely chopped, to add more texture if needed.

After each vegetable is processed, combine them in a large bowl and add the chopped cilantro, gin, garlic, vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper. Stir in the Panko.  Mix well and chill before serving. The longer gazpacho sits, the more the flavors develop.

This is beautiful as is, or you could garnish with some chopped green cherry tomatoes and some Basil Oil.  I have goat cheese in another course, otherwise a little snowy-white chevre might be nice also.  Or a dollop of pesto...

Thanks Glen for the beautiful photos.  You make me look good!