Watermelon Gazpacho

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Watermelon Gazpacho

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  • Show Name

So Many Summer Soups and Salads

  • Show Name

So Many Summer Soups and Salads

  • Show Date
June 5, 2021
  • Show Date
June 5, 2021
  • Cook

Dilip Barman

  • Cook

Dilip Barman

Description

What a perfect soup for a hot summer day. Watermelon is a great choice as a base ingredient; along with tomato (also in this recipe), it’s a great source of the powerful antioxidant lycopene that promotes heart health and fights cancer. It is in fact the best dietary source for lycopene – as it is for citrulline (the highest concentration is in the white rind next to the fruit’s flesh), which helps reduce blood pressure. Watermelon has been shown to help reduce muscle soreness so can be doubly invigorating after exercise. It is of course nicely hydrating.

I’ve made this many times since I first did in 2013. It is amenable to nice variations, such as with no (like my family prefers it) to some vinegar, different amounts of celery, different (or no) amount of hot pepper, roasted or not garlic, different levels of chunkiness, and other vegetables or even some fruit. My only caution is not to treat it as a diverse stew with too many ingredients where I think the character of the soup and the dominance of the watermelon would be challenged. Here is my version of the recipe:

  • Ingredients
  • ✓ 4-5 cups seedless watermelon flesh cut into 1 – 1 ¼” cubes (a pound of watermelon is roughly 1 ½ cups of flesh, so about 3 pounds or a third of a medium watermelon, or a sixth of a large watermelon, which is typically about 20 pounds)
  • ✓ Small-medium cucumber (about ½ - ¾ cup, chopped)
  • ✓ ½ cup (about 1/8 of a medium onion) sweet (or yellow) onion, diced into 1/8” cubes
  • ✓ 1-2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped into 1/4” cubes (about 1-2t), as preferred
  • ✓ Medium-large bell pepper, cut into 3/8” cubes (app. 1 cup)
  • ✓ (optional) 2 stalks celery cut into ¼” thick slices
  • ✓ 2-4 ounces tomato sauce (to taste; try less initially to get the tomato as an undertone but use more if you want a more pronounced tomato presence)
  • ✓ Juice of half lime or lemon
  • ✓ (optional) ½ t coarsely chopped jalapeno pepper (feel free to omit if you don’t like heat but if you can tolerate it, it is a nice contrast to the watermelon. I like coarse chopping so that you can identify and avoid biting into it if you wish. Conversely, if you like heat, I encourage you to still go easy – maybe use a tablespoonful of finely chopped jalapeno but I find too much heat no longer complements but challenges the watermelon. Ultimately, do was your palate wishes, of course!)
  • ✓ Herbs to taste – I recommend 1/2 t dried oregano or a dozen fresh oregano leaves coarsely chopped. Basil and thyme also go well – I recommend using one herb and then after trying the soup you can add additional herbs to taste. In addition, you can optionally add ½ t celery seed.
  • ✓ Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste; I recommend starting with ½ t salt and 1 t pepper (feel free to skip the salt if you are salt-free)
  • ✓ (optional) 2t champagne, ume plum, apple cider, or red wine vinegar (I often don’t like vinegar and skip it entirely in this gazpacho but many would enjoy it)
  • ✓ (optional) small handful of fresh cilantro or parsley, washed and coarsely chopped
  • Instructions

Next, follow the steps to finalize your dish and finally be able to enjoy it!

  1. Add the watermelon to a large bowl
  2. If the cucumber is not organic, I recommend peeling and composting or discarding the skin; I keep the skin on my organic cucumbers. Remove and discard ¾” from each of the ends and cut in half lengthwise. The seeds can now easily be scooped out with a teaspoon. I actually like them and enjoy them as a cool snack while I’m cooking. They can be left in the gazpacho but most would probably prefer removing the seeds. In any case, cut the cucumber into small pieces. I like cutting to something like ¼” wide x 1/2” long, but you can instead cut into 3/8” squares. Add to the bowl.
  3. Add the onion, garlic, bell pepper, celery (if used), and jalapeno (if used) to the bowl and mix.
  4. Transfer about 60% of the ingredients to a blender. Add to the blender the tomato sauce, lemon or lime juice and, if being used, vinegar.
  5. Blend briefly on low or medium, aiming for a slurry that is mostly liquid but with definite chunks of size perhaps 1/8” or so.
  6. Mix the blended ingredients into the bowl with the other 40% of the ingredients then hand mix in herbs, salt, and black pepper.
  7. Optionally serve with parsley or cilantro garnished on top.

Serve chilled or at a cool room temperature; makes 6 cups and serves 5-6.

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