Our garden suddenly produced a bounty of small tomatoes and tomatillos. We were also going to be entertaining a bunch of people on our rooftop, so I needed to find something cooling to serve. We thought, gazpacho…but I wanted to find a gazpacho that didn’t need bread as a thickener/filler. Enter: the humble avocado.

I made two different versions before settling on the right one. The first was mostly avocado, lime, cilantro, green tomato. It actually made a great salad dressing, but was a little tart to be gazpacho. The second was the real winner. Thick (but not too think to sip), balanced flavors that allowed the tomato to shine. I followed this as my base recipe, and then experimented. I used balsamic instead of sherry vinegar. I used more avocado. I added cucumber and bell pepper to the base.

This makes a pretty big batch. 

Ingredients:

• 1 avocado or 1 1/2 depending on thickness desired 
• 1 pint of cherry tomatoes
• 2 tomatillos
• 4 cloves of garlic (yes it was garlicky. you can cut down)
• 1/2 cucumber
• 1/2 bell pepper
• 1/2 jalapeno (or as spicy as you’d like it)
• 2 T olive oil
• 2 scallions
• 2 T balsamic vinegar 
• a dash of lime juice
• 1/4 c fresh cilantro and basil 
• salt to taste

The method:

Easiest recipe ever. Throw all ingredients into a blender. Blend until it hits the consistency you’d like (i stopped somewhere between chunky and pureed).  If it is too tart add a little more balsamic. Or more tomato. Add ice if you need to eat it right away, or put it into the fridge for a bit first. Add a pinch or two of salt at the end.