Summer Vegetable Gazpacho
Details
Servings: 6
Ingredients
For the soup
- 1 zucchini
- 1 summer squash
- 2 large heirloom tomatoes, roughly chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
- 1 medium red onion, roughly chopped
- 1 English cucumber, seeded and chopped
- extra virgin olive oil
- 1 pound crab meat (preferably Peekytoe)
- 1 tablespoon crème fraiche
- chives, chopped
- fresh lemon juice
- salt and pepper
- 2 ripe avocados, diced
- sea salt
- squash blossoms or chive flowers (optional garnish)
Directions
For the soup
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Begin by cutting the colorful skin and sweet flesh off of the zucchini and summer squash, about an eighth of an inch in thickness, and cut into equal size cubes, approximately 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch. Quickly sauté the cubes in a little bit of olive oil and then set aside till service.
- Roughly chop the remaining inner squash flesh and combine with the red onion, garlic, and tomato. Season the vegetables liberally with extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper and mix.
- Move the vegetables to a small roasting dish, tightly cover with plastic, then foil and roast in the preheated oven until they're tender, approximately 30-45 minutes.
- While the vegetables are still warm, move them to a blender and puree, along with all of the liquid and olive oil from the pan, and the cucumber. Strain the soup through a fine sieve and chill.
- Carefully pick through the crab to ensure that there are no bits of shell remaining. Season with the crème fraiche, salt, pepper, chopped chive and lemon juice to taste.
- Arrange the crab in a ring mold in the middle of a chilled bowl. Place the sautéed squash and zucchini cubes as well as the diced avocado around the crab salad. Finish the bowl with a touch of sea salt, olive oil, and edible flowers if available. Pour the chilled soup into the bowl, around the crab salad right before service.
