Strawberry Season is Here! Strawberry Gazpacho Recipe
Hey there everyone! My boyfriend and I had a wonderful day strawberry picking last Friday, so I wanted to try to make sure and share a few of the yummy recipes I am whipping up with these little beauties! Of course they are fantastic straight from the bush, but after picking 4 gallons (about 20 pounds) I have plenty to experiment with. 🙂
We went to Southern Belle Farm like we did around this time last year, as we knew they would have great quality berries. I think we hit the farm even earlier than we did previously, and I’m glad we did because the fruit was perfect! It took us hardly any time at all to pick that many berries.
I was tempted to grab another bucket, but then remembered I had to make use of all of them before they go bad. Hopefully since it was so early in the season we will get a chance to go back and pick more.
I froze quite a few bags worth for use later in smoothies, nice cream, and baked goods. Most of my recipes for this week’s meal plan included some of the berries, though, as it was fun to work with them so fresh and juicy!
I don’t think I have disliked anything I have made so far. This gazpacho was no exception. I have made watermelon gazpacho in the past, so I thought the strawberries would provide a similar sweet compliment to some more acidic tomatoes and savory red onion. You can adjust the ingredient proportions based on how sweet or savory you want it, but I was very happy with how this first attempt came out!
Strawberry Gazpacho
- 2 cups fresh strawberry halves, washed & hulled
- 2 pounds fresh tomatoes, cored & cut into chunks
- 1 lime, juice & zest
- 1/2 small red onion, peeled & chopped
- 2 tablespoons key lime white balsamic vinegar (can sub any other slightly sweet white vinegar or add more lime juice)
- 3 stalks celery, roughly chopped
- 8 mini bell peppers or 1 small regular bell pepper, seeded & roughly chopped
- fresh mint
- extra strawberries for garnish
Place the strawberries, half of the tomatoes, onion, lime and vinegar in a high-powered blender. Mix until smooth. Pour out all but 1 1/2 cups of the resulting mixture into a large bowl.
Add the celery, bell peppers, and the rest of the tomatoes to the liquid in the blender. Pulse until the mixture is chopped up, but still slightly chunky. *I prefer a little bit of texture to my gazpacho, but you could also blend until totally smooth if you like it that way!
Combine the chunky mixture with the mixture in the bowl. Taste and add a bit of sea salt or other flavoring if you wish. Top with fresh mint and some extra sliced strawberries to serve. Enjoy!
I found it tart and refreshing! The onion was strong, so if you are not a fan of onion make sure to use a bit less. I hope you give this a try for this fleeting but wonderful season of the year!
