Gazpacho with Shrimp and Homemade Kimchi

If you know me at all, you’d know my inability to be totally unproductive. Sure, I can couch-potato it up with the best of them, but I’m usually multi-tasking in some way while I’m at it; Whether its painting my nails, doing some half-assed sit-ups, or waiting on a stew to simmer. So naturally, while I was home with a sore throat last thursday, I felt a hankering to get in the kitchen and cook up some soup.

With the weather being warmer now, and my hesitancy to buy too many new ingredients, I decided that gazpacho would be soup de jour. The idea came together rather quickly too, because earlier in the week I’d whipped up some homemade kimchi and was waiting for the perfect dish to feature it with. So, with a few teeny tweaks to a basic recipe, this gazpacho got an Asian twist that turned out great. Throw some pre-cooked shrimp on top for the necessary protein, and this hungry swollen-glanded lady had herself a delightful supper!

Make the Kimchi about a week ahead (recipe via Closet Cooking)

• 1 medium napa cabbage (about 2-3 pounds)
• 1/2 cup salt
• 1 bunch green onions (sliced into 1 inch pieces)
• 4 cloves garlic (chopped)
• 1 inch ginger (grated)
• 1 cup gochugaru (Korean red chili flakes)
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce

1. Cut the napa cabbage in half, remove the core and slice the cabbage into 1 inch wide strips.
2. Place a layer of cabbage into a large bowl and sprinkle some salt onto the cabbage. Repeat until all of the cabbage is in the bowl and salted.
3. Let the cabbage sit in the salt for a few hours.
4. Rinse the salt from the cabbage.
5. Mix the cabbage, green onions, garlic, ginger, gochugaru and fish sauce in the large bowl.
6. Place the cabbage mixture into a sealable container leaves a couple of inches at the top.
7. Seal the container and let ferment at room temperature for 2-3 days.
8. Place the container in the fridge and let ferment for a couple more days.

Gazpacho (adapted from The Barefoot Contessa)
Makes 4-6 dinner portions, or double the amount appetizer portions 

• 1 Hothouse Cucumber, seeded but not peeled
• 2 Red Bell Peppers, cored and seeded
• 1 Jalapeno, halved and seeded
• 5 Plum Tomatoes
• 1 Red Onion
• 3 Garlic Cloves, minced
• 3 Cups Tomato Juice
• 1/4 Cup White Vinegar
• 1/8 Cup Olive Oil
• 1/8 Cup Sesame Oil
• 2 tsp Gochugaru (Korean red chili flakes)
• 1/2 tsp Ground Ginger
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Black Pepper
• 1/2 pound cooked + peeled shrimp, halved lengthwise
• Kimchi, to top
• Sesame seeds, to top

Roughly chop the cucumber, peppers, tomato, and red onion into 1-inch pieces. Keep them separate.

Put each vegetable separately into the bowl of a food processor and pulse a few times until minced, being careful not to over-process. Remove the minced vegetable from the processor into a large bowl, and continue with each remaining veggie. Doing this prevents over-processing because each veggie requires a different amount of pulsing. So for example, if you were waiting for the peppers to mince, your tomatoes would get pulverized in the process.

Once all your veggies are processed and commingling in the large bowl, add the garlic, tomato juice, vinegar, oils, and spices. Stir to combine. Cover and let chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve. The flavors will get stronger over time as it chills longer.

Once you’re ready to serve, portion your gazpacho into bowls and top with shrimp, kimchi, and a sprinkling of sesame seeds if you’d like! Enjoy!