Please help me transform fragrant, ripe heirloom tomatoes into quick gazpacho

[dordogne]

I'm looking for a simple recipe that lets the tomatoes shine; no raw onions (chives or scallions ok); would a splash of balsamic be too aggressive? The tomatoes are nearly bursting--dare I try to skin them over direct flame?

[brownie]

If you are wanting to make a true spanish gazpacho, here's what i'd suggest. I call it that only b/c here, people tend to make a salsa-like gazpacho, whereas in spain, they puree it all. My mom makes what we think is super-tasty gazpacho, she learned to make it in Valencia years ago. Anyway, she just purees all the ingredients in a blender and keeps the skins on the tomatoes. Unless they're some variety with a thick skin, you'd never know that the tomatoes had skin on them. The soup is perfectly smooth. She adds ingredients by taste...so I can't speak to quantities, but I do know she puts in cucumber (peeled), a bit of onion--vidalia is fine but so is a yellow or spanish, peppers--red or green (just uses whatever our Farm Share has that week), two pieces of toasted bread, which are soaked in water before adding to blender, a bit of olive oil but not much, maybe 1Tb, and she was taught to use white wine vinegar as balsamic is too flavorful. i think that's all she does. It is amazing, but all will depend on the flavor of the tomatoes!

[stlSarah]

Yum! Sounds just right to me. I had a really remarkable G soup the other day that had been made from ovn roasted Toms'. Could be another way to concenrate the flavors of less glorious toms

[brownie]

oooh, now there's a way to really utilize the early Aug, uninspiring tomatoes that we get from farm share. i'd always been hesitant to alter mom's recipe...but heck, why not give that a try?~

[DonShirer]

My cooking skills are primitive, but on a tomato forum I subscribe to the following recipe was recommended highly:

Chilled Creole Tomato Soup – Recipe Page 115
Adapted from The Tomato Festival Cookbook, by Lawrence Davis-Hollander (Storey Books, 2004).

I don't want to quote it here because of copyright problems, but
if you contact me privately I can tell you how to access it.
Don S.

[Funwithfood]

I'm an avid tomato gardener (photo below)
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e10...

Would you mind sharing the name of your tomato forum? : )

[beetlebug]

Lovely picture of your tomatoes. Mine are just starting to turn red now.