Labor Day 2007

Billy and Kevin came over on Labor Day to have dinner and play Mahjong.
We picked up some Indian Salmon and Creamed Herring and Smoked Mussels from Santa Monica Sea Food. I expected that the Creamed Herring wouldn’t go over very well, but in fact they really liked it.

For the first course we served a wonderful Chilled Tomato Gazpacho. The recipe is from Sunday Supper at Lucques. It is one of our favorite cookbooks.

Because it is the height of tomato season, we repeated the Lentil Pasta recipe that I posted on August 21, 2007.

For dessert we made a Fig and Raspberry Crisp.


Yellow Tomato Gazpacho
======================


This recipe was developed by Julie Robles, longtime Lucques cook, then sous-chef, then chef de cuisine. It's one of those magical recipes in which you combine few simple ingredients and end up with an unexpectedly dramatic result. It's a foolproof recipe, but, tasting it, you'd never know how easy it is to make. As long s you have a blender (it doesn't work as well in a food processor) and really great tomatoes, this refreshing gazpacho is a guaranteed crowd-pleaser.


2-1/4 pounds ripe yellow tomatoes
3 Persian cucumbers, or 1 hot-house cucumber
1/2 jalapeno, seeded and cut in half
4 sprigs cilantro, plus 12 cilantro leaves
2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons diced red or orange sweet pepper
3 tablespoons diced red onion
18 small cherry tomatoes, cut in half
Super-good extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Blanch the yellow tomatoes in boiling water for 30 seconds. Cool the tomatoes in a bowl of ice water a few minutes, and then use your fingers to slip off their skins. Remove the cores, and chop the tomatoes coarsely, saving all the ice. Reserve the ice water.

Seed and dice three tablespoons' worth of unpeeled cucumber, as prettily as you can manage, for the garnish. Set aside. Peel and coarsely chop the remaining cucumbers.
You will need to make the soup in batches. Place half the yellow tomatoes, parsley chopped cucumber, jalapeno, cilantro sprigs, garlic, vinegar, and olive oil a blender with 1-1/2 teaspoons 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 soup and taste for seasoning. Repeat with the rest of the soup ingredients, chill the soup in the refrigerator; it should be served very cold.

Toss the diced pepper, diced onion, and diced cucumber together in a small our the gazpacho into six chilled soup bowls, and scatter the pepper mix-e over the soup. Season the cherry tomatoes with salt and pepper and place cherry tomato halves and two cilantro leaves at the center of each bowl. Fin-each soup with a drizzle of super-good olive oil. To serve family-style, place soup in a chilled tureen or pretty pitcher and garnish with the tomato halves and cilantro; pass the diced vegetables on the side.