These National food days are really reminding me how easy it is to get into food ruts. I am really getting excited about all the foody options out there and how these National Days are bringing up new options for us as a family. Again, I will admit Gazpacho is not a regular in my menu items. Honestly I think I have only had it maybe once or twice in all my years and that was tasting Jeddy's when he ordered it at a restaurant. So in my quest for what National food related day today was I found my other choice of Microwave Oven Day and yep that didn't go over well either. We as a family got rid of our microwave oven in 2008 and have not had one in our home since. I won't get into the details on that. Suffice it to say, Chef Mic is not a member of our household. So back to Gazpacho it is!
Ok so since we aren't really experienced with it, both times I have eaten it was at a restaurant. In researching this day, it was time to explore our options in preparation for the day. It is traditionally a summer dish. So why the powers that be made it's National Day Dec 6th, I will continue to question. Lucky for us, we live in Florida and experience many a hot days still. In fact it has been in the 80's all week. I know those up north would love it right now but as a Floridian I am over it especially for the holidays. So making something that is cool and refreshing to eat gives us a great opportunity to enjoy some Gazpacho. When I think of gazpacho, I have always thought of it being green since both times I had it at a restaurant it was but in my quest I found there are so many different forms of Gazpacho. Now the traditional is a ripe tomato base with veggies. Which if I am honest didn't excite me too much but as I was finding there are so many incredible variations and now I was starting to get excited at the possibilities.
When I read this, "As a side, it's served in a clear glass to slurp down without a spoon; as an entrée, it's served in a carafe for patrons to pour over a dish of chopped tomatoes, peppers and microgreens. Seasonal ingredients are the key to any good gazpacho". ~ Washington Post, I knew it was time to seek out some recipes and try some gazpacho ideas.
You will find me this weekend at our local farmers market looking for the best fresh veggies to make gazpacho.
As we often do, we will get recipe ideas from eating out somewhere, seeing something posted online or just doing a search online for recipes, then we pick one or two we think might be good and we "Southern Sol" them.
We decided we will be trying a White Gazpacho made with white garlic, a Cucumber-Avocado Gazpacho with Pico de gallo and a Raspberry Tomato with goat cheese and I love the idea of celebrating with a Southern Sol rimmed glass.
Cheers to National Gazpacho Day!