Watermelon Gazpacho

Summer is the perfect time to shop for fresh tomatoes and watermelon at the local Farmers Market. Try this refreshing gazpacho recipe
filled with all fresh ingredients for lunch, dinner, or your next cook-out.

Ingredients:

2 pounds ripe tomatoes
1 medium red bell pepper
1 hothouse cucumber (approximately 1 pound)
2 small shallots, coarsely chopped
4 cilantro stalks
1 pound cubed watermelon (approximately 3 cups)
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
? cup extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for garnish
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper
Pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)

Directions:
1) Blanch the fresh tomatoes by filling a large pot
with water and bring it to a boil. Cut a small ‘X” on the bottom
of each tomato with a sharp paring knife and drop them into
the boiling water for 30 seconds. As soon as the time is up,
transfer the tomatoes to a large bowl of ice water. After the
tomatoes chill in the bowl for a minute or two, their skins should
slide right off.
2) Core each tomato and roughly chop them, reserving
all the juice and seeds.
3) Lay the pepper on its stem-end and cut around the seeds and core.
Chop the slices into a medium dice. (If your blender isn’t very powerful,
chop the peppers into even smaller pieces).
4) Peel the cucumber and reserve a third of it to garnish the finished soup.
Roughly chop up the rest of the cucumber.
5) Dump the shallots, cucumber, bell pepper, cilantro, and tomatoes into
the blender, and blend until puréed.
6) While the blender is blending, cube and de-seed the watermelon. Once the veggies
are liquefied add the watermelon, vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Blend
until smooth. Taste for seasoning and adjust if needed.
7) Refrigerate the soup in the blender cup for at least 4 hours or until it’s fully chilled. Dice up the
reserved cucumber. Ladle the gazpacho into chilled cups and top with a drizzle
of olive oil, cucumber, and fresh cracked pepper.