Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Summer Hits.... HARD!

Serenity and I have this conversation on pretty much a daily basis over text:
Him: What are we doing for dinner?
Me: I dunno.... what do you want to do?
Him: I asked you first.....
etc etc.... and so it goes on.... 

So one day, I just lost the plot and told him that I had been planning "what we'll do for dinner" for quite a major part of the six years we've been together... Soooooo..... He had to plan our dinners (and therefore what we'd do for lunch the next day!!) for a whole month without asking me that one question which annoys the daylights out of me!! 

HE DID!! (Most ably, I must add!!)
And now, this month, its my turn! (aargh! the pressure!!)

Summer's come in a big way to Tech City - its unbearably hot these days..... and I can be (incredibly!) lazy sometimes!! So starting yesterday, we are beginning soup week! (We both love soup....) But the HEAT! Oh the heat!! .... Ergo, I will be covering chilled soups... ALL THIS WEEK! What could be better than dishes that only need blending and refrigerating?? (Told you I was lazy!!) 

To start with, I made the Gazpacho last night (alongside our dinner of Artichoke, Spinach and Feta Cheese Pizza - which was the result of one of my happy experiments in the kitchen - its our go-to gourmet pizza now!! I still haven't ended up taking a picture, we end up scarfing it down!!). 

Gazpacho needs to "sit" overnight to bring out the flavours, so that's what we're having for lunch today. 





Chilled Gazpacho
Ingredients:
3 - 4 cups of tomato juice 
5 - 6 tomatoes chopped
1 stalk of celery (chopped fine)
1 cucumber (de-seeded and chopped fine)
1 red pepper (de-seeded and chopped fine)
1/4 cup Olive Oil (extra virgin always!!)
1/4 cup Red wine vinegar
Fresh Parsley
Chives 
Garlic (and you know how much I love garlic!!)
1/2 Onion (chopped fine) 
Juice of 1 lemon 
Salt and Pepper

Method:
- Keep a little of the chopped red pepper, cucumber and celery aside.
- Toss everything else in the blender.
- Mix in the chopped stuff (I dont blend all of it because we like the bite of fresh veggies)
- Refrigerate.
- Serve with croutons fried in olive oil and ice-cubes in the soup. 

Super healthy, tastes sooooo good and its THE perfect way to beat the heat!! 
So watch this space, I'm thinking of a BLT soup next!! :D