The ant and the grasshopper

This probably says something about our personalities, and nothing very flattering about mine, but while Sheryl is turning summer tomatoes into soup to eat this winter, I'm eating them all now. I know, it's very Aesop's of us.

I've been making lots of gazpacho, which is one of my favorite things to eat in the summer. I like it extremely simple, not much more than vegetables. Its quality rests entirely on the quality of the tomatoes you're using. I buy extremely ripe, nearly smushy ones at the farmers' market, or sometimes buy a utility bin of them at Ward's Berry Farm in Sharon (I've used all the ripe ones from the basket below, but when full these contain about 15 big tomatoes for $8).

Here's my approximate recipe, though it changes slightly depending on what I find in my CSA share and at the farmers' markets.

Gazpacho, for eating now
Makes lots!

8 super-ripe tomatoes
1 green bell pepper
1 cucumber
1/2 red onion
1 clove garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Cut the cores from the tomatoes and pepper. Peel cucumber if you like. Peel onion. Cut the vegetables into large chunks.
2. Put the vegetables with the garlic clove in a food processor, dividing into two batches if necessary, and blend to desired consistency.
3. Stir in olive oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper.
4. Put in refrigerator overnight or till soup is chilled and flavors have mingled.