It’s hot outside: Gazpacho from Stone House’s Paul Wade

Not too long ago, my parents moved to North Carolina to Pennsylvania, where they now live among the Amish. Thanks to my mother’s ability to enthusiastically assimilate just about anywhere, the Longs have taken to doing most of their shopping at nearby farms, where they nestle their big, white Volvo (lest anyone forget we’re Swedish) into a neat row of horse-and-buggies.

In other words, my family’s inadvertently gone locavore. What this means for me—and to my tiny New York apartment—is colorful to say the least, especially when they take a shine to a particular vendor.

Since the biggest issue at hand has been tomatoes, we’ll start there: Given the national shortage (read Dan Barber’s great New York Times Op- Ed on the subject here), I feel this totally ridiculous, self-imposed pressure to do something extra spectacular with them. In desperation, last night I emailed my friend Paul Wade, Executive Chef at Stone House at Little Compton, a brand-new, sustainable, and gorgeous hotel near Providence, RI.

What I love about Paul is his obsession with making the most of ingredients themselves (for Pietra, the new restaurant he’s running, he tries to stick to food sourced within a 75-mile radius, and he’s an incredible advocate for his farmers). Considering my tomatoes’ own story, he seemed like a pretty perfect choice. 

 

“What grows together, goes together,” Paul wrote to me. Basically, every vegetable in this soup recipe he sent over is not only in season now, but also—if you were so inclined—could cohabitate in your garden patch. I may be reading too much in here, but I wonder if the flavors might  be complimenting each other in terms of both ripeness and the kinds of chemical changes and nutrients they’ve absorbed through their similar growing conditions.

Two things I do know for sure: 1) Because tomatoes are in season, their fiber content is at its peak 2) Tomatoes are a great source of lycopene, a potent antioxidant that’s shown some promise as ammunition against both cancer and heart disease. And with that, I’ll leave you to it!

Tomato Gazpacho with Dungeness Crab Salsa

Makes 6 Servings

Soup Ingredients:
2 vine-ripened tomatoes
3 seedless cucumbers, peeled and chopped
4 yellow bell peppers, seeded and chopped
1 large white onion, diced
¼ tsp. ground corriander
1 dash cayenne pepper
1 med jalapeno chili, seeded and chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
½ c orange juice
3 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp. white balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp sugar salt to taste

Procedure:
Combine all of the above and liquify in a blender, adding in small batches to make space for everything. Strain to pull out excess pulp and skins from the vegetables. Set aside in a container and refridgerate for 1 hour.

Dungeness Crab Salsa Ingredients:
½ c dungeness crab meat
1 serrano chili, seeded and diced
1 tbsp. cilantro, chopped
1 orange, zested and juiced
1tsp lime juice
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
¼ c diced red onion

Procedure: Throughly pick through the crab meat to make sure that it is free of shells. Combine picked crab with the diced tomato, chopped cilantro, orange zest, serrano chili, diced onion, orange juice, lime juice and olive oil. Set aside.

Bringing it all together: To complete the dish pour the gazpacho into 6 bowls. Place two tablespoons of the salsa on top. Garnish with sea salt. The salt will accent the flavors of the gazpacho and the salsa.