Gazpacho with Parmesan Croutons

By Jessica and Julie

First of all, Jess and I decided we wanted to be real Barefoot Contessas with the fancy ingredients. Therefore, we are doing this project together to lessen the expense.

For example the "good" olive oil (seen below) which you can only get at Williams and Sonoma costs $30!!!!!!! And for this recipe (which we cut in half) we used a 1/4 of a cup!

We decided to start with the Gazpacho since it seemed not so intimidating and no one else has tried it. It's not a recipe that has to be cooked. You just chop up the ingredients and put them together with seasoning and tomato juice.

It's a cold soup. Which really didn't sound too appetizing, especially to Julie whom HATES vegetables.

It's extremely easy to make and not expensive (as long as you don't buy the "good" olive oil). All other ingredients where purchased from Whole Foods for $14 total. Once it's all combined you just pop it into the fridge for about an hour and let the flavor chill and marinate the veggies.

We tried the Gazpacho both before and after the chilling process and there was a definite improvement in taste after. We also made the croutons (as kind of failed at that, they are cajun style). If you don't use the baguette type bread then 15 minutes is way too long to cook it! We loved the flavor of the of the croutons and we added basil seasoning to it.
The Gazpacho was not as good on it's own as it was with the croutons or with plain bread. We also sprinkled some parmesan cheese on top and that definitely added to the taste.
It's a very refreshing type soup for summertime lunches. Jess and I are not fans of onions and this had a whole onion in it. However, Audrey (Julie's daughter) had no problem eating the raw onions, ICK! So we decided to chop it up quite fine and that did well (instead of coarsely like all the other ingredients).

We also decided fresh reggiano parmesan cheese which neither of us realized how hard it is and how difficult it is to grate so we enlisted the help of Julie's hubbie.

The overall review (without knowing what Terence thinks) is, it's okay. Julie didn't care for it, but she tried it! Jose said he really wouldn't want it again because it's really only good with something else. Jess says it's alright, she would eat it again but not everyday.

We will let you know what Terence and Audrey think.