Kansas City Blog

Heirloom tomatoes in chef Rachel Fracassa's garden.

​As tomato season winds down, soft and pulpy tomatoes lend themselves to soup. Raw food chef Rachel Fracassa has a straightforward recipe for turning your leftover heirloom tomatoes into a summer gazpacho. Preparation should only be about 20 minutes, most of which you'll spend chopping and blending. If you've got a big batch or small eaters, you can also try freezing the gazpacho, although odds are pretty good it will taste best when served fresh.

Your list of ingredients:

3 medium heirloom tomatoes
1/4 cup diced celery
1/4 cup seeded and diced cucumber
3 tablespoons diced red bell pepper
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 cup thinly sliced Easter egg radishes
2 heaping tablespoons minced fresh parsley
1 tablespoon thinly sliced green onion
1 1/2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pinch of cayenne
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 ripe avocado, diced

Once you've got your ingredients assembled, your prep should be fairly easy -- it's just five steps.

1. Seed the tomatoes and strain the seeds from the juice through a cloth mesh bag. Set the juice aside.

2. Finely dice the tomatoes.

3. Place the tomato juice, half of the celery, cucumber and bell pepper, and all of the lemon juice in a blender and process until smooth.

4. Pour into a bowl and stir in the tomatoes, the remaining celery, cucumber and bell pepper, and all of the radishes, parsley, green onion, oil, salt, cayenne and black pepper. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour before serving.

5. Just before serving, stir in the avocado.

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