Watermelon Gazpacho

It's been forever since we've had time or inclination to put up any new recipes. But this isn't the first time we've made watermelon gazpacho, so I thought it was high time I blog this sucker. Maybe we'll get back into posting our recipes here.

Ingredients for the Soup

• 2 lbs of seedless watermelon, roughly chopped.
• Three medium tomatoes, stem bits removed, roughly chopped.
• 3c of crusty bread, crusts removed, rough chop
• A cucumber, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1/2c water
• 1/4c basil
• 1/4c mint
• 1/4c cilantro
• 1/4c olive oil
• 1 shallot, roughly chopped
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1.5 tsp salt
• Somewhere between 1/2 and 1 tsp of adobo seasoning (or just 1/2 tsp of cumin)

Ingredients for the Basil Oil

• Didn't realize we were going to get fancy, did you?
• 1/4c basil
• 1/4 olive oil
• Salt  & pepper to taste

Garnish

• Some little bits of cubed tomato, watermelon, avocado, and/or feta.

This is a pretty easy recipe, and the results are fantastic. So basically, blend together the basil oil ingredients in a blender, then set aside and rinse out the blender (doesn't need to be totally clean). Toss all of the soup ingredients into a bowl and let them sit for a little while (5, 10 minutes) and then blend those, too (in batches if you have to). Set in the fridge to chill for 20 minutes, then adjust seasonings.

To serve, pour some soup in a bowl and top with the garnishes and drizzle with basil oil. If you want to be really fancy, you could serve this as a shooter, actually, or you could put a pile of the garnishes in the center of a plate and pour some soup around it. But we weren't as concerned about that.

Thoughts: This is remarkably easy. It's good for summer, since it's like 97 degrees out and who wants to cook? And it's refreshing. I guess it took a little while to put together, bit if you make a smaller portion it wouldn't have to take very long. Honestly, you could skip the basil oil and just use some basil in the garnish. That would also mean you can dirty fewer dishes, and you can just toss ingredients into the blender as you go.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Watermelon Salad

For when you've moved recently and you don't have any of your cooking equipment because the stupid movers haven't arrived yet so you just have to make do with what you have.

Ingredients

• about 1/4 of a small seedless watermelon, cubed (about 4c, at a wild guess)
• 1 avocado, cubed
• 1/2 a cucumber, cubed
• 2-3 Roma tomatoes, cubed
• 3-4tbsp fresh mint, chopped
• 2-3tbsp fresh basil, chopped
• 2oz goat cheese, crumbled
• Optional balsamic vinaigrette, though we didn't have our balsamic.
• sea salt, for sprinkling on individual servings

So, you know, toss those ingredients together and serve.

Thoughts: Our first impression was that this was going to be basically a deconstructed watermelon gazpacho. And I think that this description isn't far off. Somehow watermelons go very well with tomatoes and avocado. I don't know how much the cucumber adds, but it gives some color so why not? Claire says peel the cucumbers in the future.

This was delicious, though it would probably be even better with a vinaigrette. Claire said maybe a little more goat cheese and a little more avocado? It was just really nice and summery. I'm confident we will make this again. It's a great way to serve watermelon.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Melon lassi

Okay, hardly a "recipe" but it was something I tried out today. I was originally thinking "smoothie" but it pretty much tasted like lassi. So there you go.

Ingredients

(roughly)

• 1c honeydew melon
  
• 1/2c vanilla ice cream
  
• 1/2c plain yogurt
  
• 1/4c milk
  
• 1tbsp honey
  
• 1/4tsp cinnamon
  

Throw everything in a blender. Enjoy.

Thoughts: Pretty delicious. It's like lassi, but with a subtle melon-y taste (go figure). I was mainly trying to get rid of a not-so-great honeydew melon, and this worked. My only gripe is that the melon doesn't blend TERRIBLY well - it takes a lot of blending to get it into small enough bits to be enjoyable. But the melon in question wasn't completely ripe - otherwise I wouldn't have been blending it in the first place. Catch-22. It could use to be thicker, too. Maybe some quick oats next time, no added milk, and a banana. That would make it a little more smoothie-like and probably the desired density.

Disaster Index: 2/10

UPDATE:

Ingredients

(roughly)

• 2c honeydew melon or honeydew-cantaloupe hybrid OR whatever you want
  
• 1/4c vanilla ice cream
  
• 1/2c plain yogurt
  
• 1/3c quick oats
  
• Any additional flavors you want - other fruit, cinnamon, etc
  

Throw everything in a blender (make sure you add the oats last or it'll be tough to get it started blending). Blend for 20 or 30 seconds, until it looks pretty smooth. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours. I just throw in the whole blender bowl and leave the base on the counter. During this time, the oatmeal (now more like oat flour) will plump up and thicken the smoothie, also enhancing the oat flavors, but it gets kind of lumpy. Take it out and re-blend it for 10-20 seconds on high speed after it's done. Enjoy.

Thoughts: Much improved. The oats actually add a little extra sweetness to the smoothie, and the texture is much thicker & richer. This works great if you have some melon that isn't quite sweet or flavorful enough to motivate you to eat it straight OR if you just bought way more melon that you needed and Claire won't help you eat it.

Disaster Index: 1/10