Melon Gazpacho
I feel like this melon gazpacho came about as a dare from Andrea. Just yesterday we were texting and as usual we were talking about food. Andrea is currently visiting family in Hungary, so I went over to her house to pick up all her vegetables and fruits so they don’t go bad. So, I was texting her to tell her I made a nice smoothie from her ingredients. As she had a lot of red onions she replies jokingly “with a lot of red onions probably”. To which I replied “of course not, just blueberries and mango” and in that moment, she decided to challenge me by telling my that’s not difficult anyone can do that and making a smoothie with red onion would be more of a challenge. I took that on and told her challenge accepted.
A smoothie with red onion is basically a gazpacho, so there you go Andrea I made a smoothie with red onion. Not impossible, just a change of perspective. Melon was on my to-do list of ingredients for this month so I decided to marry the two and end up with a melon gazpacho. It’s perfect for a hot summer day and cools you right off, delicious and refreshing.
For this particular recipe I actually wanted a cantaloupe, but could only get my hands on honeydew so I just rolled with that. They are quite similar to each other in taste and texture and can be interchanged easily. Only slight difference besides the color is that honeydew tends to be a little sweeter than cantaloupe.
Of course, mine was extremely sweet, which is great when you’re making a fruit salad or smoothie, but not ideal for the gazpacho. That’s why I ended up adding more apple cider vinegar than I would normally. I mention it below in the instructions as well, but each melon whether cantaloupe or honeydew will differ in sweetness. Sometimes they can be a little bit bland and other times like today they are quite sweet. That is why I add the salt, black pepper and apple cider vinegar in stages and at the end, so I can taste in between to check whether it needs more or not. Start slowly and build it up till you get the right balance of flavors. It’s better to under salt and add a bit more than to over salt and trying to save a dish.
Melon Gazpacho
Equipment
- Blender or Food processor
Ingredients
- 1 melon I used honeydew for this recipe but prefer cantaloupe
- 1 cucumber chopped
- 1 jalapeño minced
- 1½ tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 red onion chopped
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- ¼ cup celery leaves chopped
- 1 cup water
- basil leaves a few for garnish
Instructions
- Cut melon into wedges, remove the peel and seeds and cut into chunks.
- Add celery leaves, red onion, jalapeño, cucumber, melon, water and olive oil to the blender and blend everything together.
- Each melon is different in amount of sweetness, that’s why I add the salt, black pepper and apple cider vinegar at the end to gage exactly how much it would need. Start with half the amount stated above and taste to see if it needs more.
- Let it cool in the fridge for 30 minutes or until ready to serve.