Classic Tomato Gazpacho, with Sweet Corn and Mango Variations

Troy Dunham, who works in Glamour’s art department, lives in a tiny apartment with no air-conditioning. Come summer, he used to put hazard tape on his oven and go into bunny mode: eating only salad, salad, and more salad. Until he learned to make gazpacho, that is. While classic gazpacho is red (made with tomatoes), we’ve added two fun yellow-orange variations here—a sweet corn gazpacho and a mango one as well. Troy serves them to friends with plantain chips, but they’re also nice with a simple salad and baguette slices.

Serves 2 to 3

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 pound ripe tomatoes
• 1 cucumber, cut in half lengthwise, seeds scooped out
• 1 cup cold water
• 1 scallion, finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• Plantain chips, for serving (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Roughly chop 1 tomato and 1 cucumber half, and puree them in a blender or food processor with the cold water. Pour the mixture through a wire-mesh sieve set over a large bowl, pressing on the solids. Discard the solids.
2. Finely chop the remaining tomatoes and cucumber half and add them to the bowl with the scallion, garlic, cilantro, lime juice, vinegar, salt, and pepper.
3. Stir together, and chill until cold, about 1 hour.
4. Serve with plantain chips, if desired.

VARIATIONS

1: SWEET CORN GAZPACHO:

• 3-4 ears corn (instead of tomatoes)
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• Instead of tomatoes, puree the kernels from 2 ears of corn along with the chopped cucumber half and water.
  Pour the puree through a sieve into a bowl and stir in 1 cup corn kernels (from 1 or 2 ears of corn, depending on size), along with the remaining chopped cucumber half and 1 diced red bell pepper. Then stir in the remaining ingredients (scallion, garlic, cilantro, lime juice, vinegar, salt, and pepper) from the classic gazpacho recipe. Chill for an hour before serving.

2: MANGO GAZPACHO:

• 2 ripe mangos (instead of tomatoes)
• 3 tablespoons chopped red onion
• Instead of tomatoes, puree 1 peeled, pitted, and chopped ripe mango with the chopped cucumber half and water. Pour through a sieve into a bowl and stir in 1 additional peeled, pitted, and finely chopped mango along with the remaining chopped cucumber half. Instead of the scallion, stir in 3 tablespoons chopped red onion, then add the remaining ingredients (garlic, cilantro, lime juice, vinegar, salt, and pepper) from the classic gazpacho recipe. Chill for an hour before serving.

TIP:

• Using local, farmstand tomatoes—or sweet cherry tomatoes—will take your gazpacho from good to great. If you can, chill the soup overnight to let the flavors deepen.