The Poverty Kitchen

Tomatoes, for me in New England, were delayed by constant rain and unsuitable soil conditions.
Planting was delayed until mid-June, with fruit development missing much of July’s and August’s appropriate heat.
That said, September, and not August, has been ‘tomato month’ with a plethora of vine-ripe fruit.
Some has been set aside for the best of late summer recipes: Gazpacho Andaluz.
Gazpacho in late summer and early fall can take advantage of garden perfection.
Hardneck garlic, sweet onions, fresh cucumber, yellow, orange or red bell peppers, and sweet vine-ripe tomatoes.

Decades ago, I settled on the slightly unique “Yellow” Gaspacho Andaluz.
Why yellow? It plated uniquely in a restaurant setting, was slightly sub-acid, and to be completely honest, Over the years, I sold three varieties of yellow (actually orange) tomatoes into the restaurants:

WA Burpee’s Open-pollenated Golden Jubilee a 1940s varietal. *still our favorite* sold by several companies.
The F1 Golden Boy tomato, sold as an orange version of the popular Better Boy red tomato (and now apparently off of the mainstream market).
The F1 Chef’s Choice Orange tomato, which seems to have taken the market position of the Golden Boy.

Having a specifically purposeful recipe was an advantage.

The Recipe:
~ 2 pounds of tomatoes washed and quartered.

1 cup peeled cucumber – sliced or diced

1 cup chopped Spanish or Vidalia onion  – peeled and chopped.

1 large or 2 typical cloves of peeled garlic. (Traditionally 5, but all you will taste is garlic)

2 tablespoons olive oil 

1 teaspoon of salt (more later if needed) and a healthy grind of pepper 

1/2 of a firm bell pepper, chopped I prefer yellow, orange or red. Never green.

Blender all working up to high speed. (over the course of 5 minutes)

Add in 1/2 of a ripe avocado, or 2 ounces of mashed avocado.

Blend again for a minute, then add 1 tablespoon of Sherry vinegar.

Strain in a sieve. Discard the skins, seeds, and pulp.

Refrigerate for a day. Stir, taste, and adjust seasonings.

Where we deviate from most published recipes:
Avocado instead of bread crumb or cubed stale bread. Luxurious fat, instead of starchy bread.
Less garlic. You could add more, but at some point this becomes garlic soup with other stuff.
Resist. Enjoy the perfection of vine-ripe tomatoes.

Cost? If you’re growing it all? A life of dedication, and some seed.
A bottle of fairly pricy Sherry Vinegar ~ $8, which you can also use for salad dressing, kale soup, and perfecting a few other sauces, salads, dressings, or entrees.

Shown: A Vitamix 5200 blender. You can find them on eBay for about half-price used, just read the descriptions carefully. I scored one for work @ $150 shipped, with a new carafe. The variable speed control is touchy – but repairable if I wanted to spend $45 more for a replacement potentiometer.

The VitaPrep is a commercial version, slightly more powerful, and when using both, I haven’t seen a sufficient difference to justify the price.
Others have sworn by the Ninja, but we are hidebound Vitamix traditionalists.

I cannot see where a food processor or wand blender will achieve the necessary pulverization, including commercial versions such as a RobotCoupe R2 or Waring Commercial stick blender.