The Ubiquitous Roasted Veggie Gazpacho

The Ubiquitous Roasted Veggie Gazpacho came about when I stepped outside around one on Saturday and began to sweat immediately. I was just home from a four mile run (had cooled off) and really in no shape to conjur up a creative and oven/stove-heavy meal. However, I was interested in something spicy, and veggie-ish--more fresh than anything else. So, I found my fridge full of fresh zucchini--of course, (will that plant ever go dormant?)--and tomatoes (I really would like these to come in a bit faster, but I am not willing to forgo my organic growing methods)--some red onions (farmer's market) and new peppers from the garden. All of these spoke to me in a form of the ever-famous gazpacho. August seems a bit late to be having this as a meal, after all, we've had the Fake BLT now at least three times! So, I got to work. I heated my oven to 500--yes, you see correctly. But this was for a short roasting time, around 15 minutes--plus my kitchen is old and the house is old, most of the heat stays in the kitchen rather than circulating throughout the house. Here is the skinny on the recipe.

Ubiquitous Roasted Veggie Gazpacho

1 pepper sliced

1 red onion, quartered

10 roma tomatoes, cut in half

2 zucchini--sort of small, but sliced about 3/4" thin

6 cloves of garlic

1 can black beans, drained

1 chopped cucumber

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

4 tablespoons olive oil (I had some blood orange flavor on hand and added it)

2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

1 or 2 tablespoons of hot sauce and extra for passing around

Preheat oven to 500. On the oven grill (that has been oiled), spread out your veggies you desire and roast for about 18 minutes. Be sure to include some garlic cloves--I had six. I also brushed the veggies with olive oil and seasoned them with whatever I had: paprika, cumin, cilantro, Spike. It is up to you. When roasting is complete--dump all of this into a blender and pulse a few times. Your call as to what you'd like, chunky or more smooth. Then dump this mixture into a large bowl and add the remaining ingedients. You can change this up and add corn, too. Keep tasting it. Ifind this recipe is not exact so, please taste test! Chill before eating for optimum flavor. For topping, dice up some avacado and serve with a delicious loaf of bread! Perfect!