Tomato-Melon Gazpacho

Name: Tomato-Melon Gazpacho
Yield: makes 4 servings
Ingredients: 4 tomatoes (about 1 1/2 pounds), peeled and seeded; One 3-pound cantaloupe; 2 tablespoons olive oil; 10 fresh basil leaves; Salt and freshly ground black pepper; Juice of 1 lemon

December 20, 2011

I like gazpacho, but the ultimate minimalist version—take a few tomatoes, a red pepper, some onion, oil, and vinegar, and whiz it in a blender—doesn’t always cut it for me. When I confessed this to my friend and sometime co-author Jean-Georges Vongerichten, he suggested I abandon tradition entirely and combine tomatoes with another fruit of the season: cantaloupe. These, combined with basil and lemon—in place of vinegar—produce the mildest, most delicious, creamiest gazpacho I’ve ever tasted. Make sure to use ripe cantaloupe and tomato at the height of the summer for the best results.

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