Yellow Tomato Gazpacho

original here

Make in a blender, pour it into 5 or 6 glass 12 oz bottles (with screw caps), and carry one every day in your purse. It's a serving of vegetables I can eat on the run, without utensils. Otherwise, I'd eat croissants. I get so hungry.

You probably don't need a recipe, but sometimes I do. The most basic gazpacho is a bag of tomatoes, a cucumber, some vinegar (red is traditional but they're all fine), some salt, some garlic, and some almonds or oil. You cannot lose. Also traditional: a red bell pepper and a piece of stale bread. I always add some Tabasco-ish sauce or a jalepeno. If you have a good blender, chop nothing and peel nothing (besides trimming off any woody stems).

There's a lot of soluble fiber in this so you might want to re-blender it after a few days (if you're serving it to somebody else).

OK--this is a fancy yellow version from a West Hollywood chef. I've never even tried the fancy steps (like blanching and peeling the tomatoes, peeling the cucumbers, or straining the soup--or measuring) and you cannot go wrong.

1. 2 1/2 pounds ripe yellow tomatoes 
2. 3 Persian cucumbers or 1 hothouse cucumber
3. 1/2 jalapeño, seeded and cut in half
4. 4 cilantro sprigs, plus 12 cilantro leaves
5. 2 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
6. 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
7. 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
8. Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
9. 3 tablespoons diced red or orange sweet pepper
10. 3 tablespoons diced red onion
11. 18 small cherry tomatoes, cut in half
12. Super-good extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
13. Blanch the yellow tomatoes in boiling water for 30 seconds. Cool the tomatoes in a bowl of ice water for a few minutes. Use your fingers to slip off their skins. Remove the cores and coarsely chop the tomatoes, saving all of the juice. Reserve the ice water.
14. Seed and dice 3 tablespoons of unpeeled cucumber, as prettily as you can manage, for the garnish. Peel and coarsely chop the remaining cucumbers.
15. Place half of the yellow tomatoes, the coarsely chopped cucumber, jalapeño, cilantro sprigs, garlic, vinegar and olive oil in a blender with 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt and some pepper. Process at the lowest speed until broken down. Turn the speed up to high and puree until the soup is completely smooth. If the soup is too thick, add a little of the reserved ice water. Strain the soup through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing out as much liquid as possible. Taste for seasoning. Repeat with the rest of the soup ingredients. Chill the soup in the refrigerator until it's very cold.
16. Toss the diced sweet pepper, onion and cucumber together in a small bowl. Pour the gazpacho into 6 chilled soup bowls and scatter the pepper mixture over the soup. Season the cherry tomatoes with salt and pepper and place 6 cherry tomato halves and 2 cilantro leaves at the center of each bowl. Finish each soup with a drizzle of super-good olive oil. To serve family-style, place the soup in a chilled tureen or pretty pitcher and garnish with the cherry tomato halves and cilantro; pass the diced vegetables on the side.