This is a refreshing soup for those hot spring/summer days. You can really taste all of the individual flavors in this soup. The garnish adds extra crunch and flavor from the cucumber, cabbage, roasted poblano and roasted yellow peppers. The roasted poblano pesto finishes it off amazingly!
Ang and I are hosting our first Pop-up dinner in Phoenix at the end of this month. We are doing a Mexican inspired meal. We want to serve a chilled soup to accommodate the Arizona heat. I came up with a gazpacho soup with a Mexican twist. I am really excited to share our food and cocktail recipes in a live forum. I am a bit nervous, but I know that it will be fun as well as a great experience. I would love it if Ang could do more of these dinners in the future with some of her other chef friends. This would be a great outlet for her to use her amazing talents and creativity!
This soup is perfect with a dry white crisp wine, like an Albariño, white Rioja, Rueda or a sparkling wine like a Cava or Prosecco.
Recipe:
4 servings
Roasted Poblano Pesto = 3/4 cup (reserve for garnish and crostinis)
- 1 Poblano Peppers – roasted
- 1/4 + 2 Tablespoons Raw Walnuts
- 1/4 Cup Aged Asiago Cheese – finely shredded
- 1/3 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1 Cloves Garlic
- 1 Tablespoon Fresh Squeezed Lime Juice
- 1/4 Teaspoon Sea Salt or to taste
Soup
- 3 Pounds Yellow Tomatoes (about 4 large tomatoes) – blanched
- 3 Yellow Bell Peppers- roasted -diced – 1 reserved for garnish
- 2 Shallots
- 3 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 3 Garlic Cloves
- 1/4 Cup Dry White Wine
- 1 1/2 Cucumbers – 1/2 diced – reserved for garnish
- 2 Tablespoons Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice
- 2 Teaspoons Sea Salt – or to taste
- 1 Roasted Poblano – roasted – diced – reserve for garnish
- 1/2 Cup Red Cabbage – minced – reserve for garnish
Garnish – to taste
- Diced Cucumber
- Diced Roasted Yellow Bell Pepper
- Diced Roasted Poblano Pepper
- Minced Red Cabbage
- Roasted Poblano Pesto
- Crostini – optional
Instructions:
Peppers
Roast peppers on the stovetop on medium high heat. A gas stove works the best but it will work fine on an electric stove. Char the peppers on all sides turning with a pair of tongs. When good and charred, steam them for 10 minutes in a covered dish or a paper bag rolled shut to hold in the steam.
Take a paper towel and rub off the char. It’s ok to leave a little of the char. Slice in half and remove the seeds and stems then dice them.
Start by roasting all of the poblano and yellow bell peppers, remove the burnt skin with a paper towel and remove the stems and seeds.
Pesto
In a food processor or blender; add one of the poblano peppers, finely shred the Asiago, peel the garlic, measure and add all other ingredients, puree until smooth and set aside.
Soup
Core the tomatoes and add to a pot, cover with water and bring to a boil. When the skin begins to crack remove them with tongs. ( approx. 1 – 2 minutes) Let cool and remove the skins.
Mince shallots and garlic. Add the olive oil to a saute pan and turn on the stove to medium-low heat. Add the shallots and garlic and cook until they are translucent and the garlic has just started to brown. Add the wine, reduce to a syrup and set aside to cool.
While shallots are cooking, peel the tomatoes. When wine is reduced, add the tomatoes to the shallots and mash them up a bit. Cook for about 2 minutes. Let cool.
Peel the cucumbers, scoop out the seeds, roughly chop one whole cucumber and add it to the cooled tomatoes. Dice half of a cucumber and set aside for garnish.
Dice one of the roasted yellow bell peppers and set aside for garnish, roughly chop the remaining two and add them to the soup.
Add the lemon juice and salt to the soup.
Puree the soup until smooth with an immersion blender, food processor or blender.
Mince the red cabbage.
Drizzle the pesto over the finished soup (I add about 2 tablespoons per cup of soup). Add the diced poblano, diced bell pepper, diced cucumber and sprinkle with minced red cabbage.
Serve chilled or at room temperature with some plain crostinis or topped with the pesto.
Health benefits:
Tomatoes are great for the heart due to the extreme antioxidant support, niacin, folate and vitamin B6 that helps the reduction of heart disease. They are also high in vitamins A, C, K and potassium. The choline in tomatoes helps assist the absorption of fat and reduces chronic inflammation. It also helps with sleep, muscle movement, learning and memory. Tomatoes are high in Lycopene the antioxidant that gives tomatoes their red color. Cooking tomatoes break down the cell walls, which helps to release the lycopene and is better absorbed with a little fat like olive oil. The Zea-xanthin in them helps to filter harmful ultra-violet rays, which protect eyes from “age-related macular disease.” They are also a powerful blood purifier and great for skin and bone health.
Bell Peppers are extremely high in vitamin A, which helps to support healthy eyesight especially night vision. It is also very high in vitamin C, which is really important for the skin. They have a good source of the antioxidant mineral manganese and B-complex and vitamin E. They help reduces ‘bad’ cholesterol, helps controls diabetes and helps reduce pain. They are a good source of fiber, folate, vitamin K, molybdenum and manganese. Red peppers are one of the veggies highest in lycopene and have been successfully tested in the prevention of many cancers. Lycopene is a powerful antioxidant, giving many fruits and vegetables their color, especially tomatoes, that are great for the prevention of cancers in the bladder, prostate, cervix and pancreas.
Poblano Peppers are extremely high in vitamin C; just one pepper has 95% of your daily value. They are great for your immune system and help to reduce inflammation like in arthritis and asthma. They are also helpful with the increase of oxygen helping the body to burn more calories 20 minutes after eating peppers. They are full of vitamin A, vitamin K, and potassium.
