hot weather soup

When I was in college I waited tables at this great little cafe in the Uptown neighborhood of Minneapolis. The owner, Pam Sherman, created all these amazing soups and salads, in addition to croissants and baguettes and cakes to die for. The cafe ended up closing, and over the years I have mourned the loss of those foods, especially the soups. One of my favorite recipes was a gazpacho that they would always serve when it was really hot – usually around this part of August. The last couple of days, the temperature here has been hovering around 100º (our thermometer read 108º on Tuesday afternoon), and last night I decided to try to recreate the gazpacho recipe. As long as it’s been since I tasted that soup, I think I came pretty close! It was tasty, anyway, if I do say so myself. And most of the ingredients from our garden, as you can see from the photo! Here’s the recipe:
Summer Gazpacho
8 medium tomatoes
3 small bell peppers
2 jalepeño peppers, minced
2 cucumbers
1 orange
1 sweet onion
2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
2 1/2 Tablespoons sherry vinegar
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon cumin (or more to taste)
1/2 c. sour cream

Chop the tomatoes, bell peppers, onion and orange into a 1/2 inch dice and combine in a large bowl. Add the jalepeños, garlic, vinegar, salt and cumin. Peel the cucumbers and cut in half width-wise. Chop in a 1/4 inch dice and add 1 1/2 of the cucumbers to the bowl. Reserve 1/2 cucumber. In batches, blend the soup coarsely on the “chop” setting of your blender, adding the sour cream. Return to the bowl and add the 1/2 remaining cucumber. Adjust seasonings to taste and garnish with parsley or mint if desired.