© J.N. Urbanski
Back in the day, Peekamoose Restaurant made this incredibly delicious cucumber gazpacho, which is no longer on the menu, that reminded me of England, where we love our cucumber in all its forms because it’s so refreshing. English cucumbers are different to the cucumbers that you find here in the US. They are lighter, softer, less dense and go well in smoothies. Years ago, Marybeth, the owner, once reeled off a list of ingredients for their gazpacho and the next day I tried to remember what they were. (I’d had a couple of drinks). After some experimentation, I believe I have mastered it. To continue the theme of giving the gut a spring clean, here’s another raw, vegan recipe that’s cooling, simple, easy and nutritious.
Cucumber Gazpacho
Three medium sized English cucumbers
Half cup of raw almonds
Half cup of water
10 grapes or half an apple
Three teaspoons of olive oil
Half teaspoon of salt
Half teaspoon of pepper
Put the almonds in a cup and cover with water. Soak overnight. The next morning, I added another cup of water and blended them until smooth and watery. This is the difficult bit: the almonds won’t blend unless they have enough water, but it’s easy to go overboard and use too much. (You could also use store-bought almond milk to save time, but its much thinner and less earthy.) When you sieve them, make sure that the pulp that remains in the sieve is very dry.
I separately blended the grapes, sieved them and put them to one side. I separately peeled and blended the cucumbers until they were liquid and while the cukes were blending I added the olive oil, salt and pepper, grape juice and almond milk. You might also like to add a little of the almond or grape pulp to garnish with a splash of olive oil. Delicious.
This is the sort of recipe that you can amend without too much fuss. If you want a sweeter gazpacho, you just throw all the fruit in the blender with the cucumber. This also makes a perfect pre-workout smoothie where, if you haven’t had a chance to eat all day yet you still want to work out, you can drink this an hour or two before exercising.