first gazpacho or maybe V8

[mindstalk]

Some people: look up a recipe, follow it carefully, buying all prescribed ingredients in quantity specified.

Some people, including me at times: look up a recipe to get an idea, then wing it.

Me, tonight: "Gazpacho is blended vegetables, right? Let's blend what I have on hand and see what happens."

Into the blender:

bunch of chopped celery
one very large carrot, chopped
some spinach
a mini-cucumber, chopped
some crushed tomatoes from a can already open
some water for extra liquid
some thawed frozen berries I had out (I think these got overwhelmed in flavor)

Taste test: not bad. I added a splash of balsamic vinegar, blended it all some more, and poured out a bowl.

Then, as I ate, I looked it up on Wikipedia. Ooh, supposed to have olive oil and bread and garlic.

To what was left in the blender, I added:

more celery
more spinach
some oil
one slice of bread
some garlic powder (I'm out of fresh)

Result: I think I preferred the first batch, perhaps because it had a higher tomato ratio, or maybe I didn't like what the bread did to the texture. Though I also garnished this bowl with some ham, which is a Legitimate Variant, and I quite liked the bites with ham. :)

Anyway, whether one admits it as a gazpacho or not, I deem it a successful experiment. Ate a lot more vegetables than I do normally. The carrot alone would have been... imposing as a big chunk of raw vegetable.