Drowing in Gazpacho

[Village Baker]

I made a ton of gazpacho for a dinner last night and have 8 quarts left over. Other than giving it away, is there something I can do to save it in the freezer? Ratatouille? Puree into sauce? Soup base?

[Emme]

just another idea... if you make eggs or egg whites, stir some of the gazpacho into the eggs before putting it in the pan... you could also use it as a chunky sauce on top of the eggs once cooked.

[Paulustrious]

Freeze it. If you are the sort of person who makes gazpacho 24 hours in advance then the texture change is relatively slight. You can always grate an extra carrot in. Try and remove all air from the container before freezing. Zip-loc bags I find to be the best. Oxidation does not do the flavour any favours.

* Pureed, heated and diluted it is a good base for a vegetable soup if it is not too acidic.
* Pureed and added to roast peppers and tomato sauce, it is an interesting pasta base.
* Never tried it, but as the Karbonara Kid says, it you puree and strain it would make an interesting Bloody Mary.
* Basis for a curry

[PattiCakes]

I'd freeze it in usable portions, then use as shown above. Other suggestions would include using it on top of chicken, beef or pork in a crockpot, or as a liquid base for Spanish/Mexican rice. I kinda like the bloody mary idea myself. I also like to make my own version of ranch beans in my pressure cooker. I bet they would taste good with the gaspacho as a base.

[shaogo]

It's not going to be as crisply "fresh" as it is when made, but you can freeze gazpacho.

I second the Bloody Mary idea... you could even puree some of the gazpacho and freeze it in small portions, to be defrosted in the microwave, to go into Bloody Marys.

[Veggo]

Two gallons left over? Did the 82nd Airborne fail to show up? :) I have never frozen gazpacho, but I have had leftovers for as long as 6 days, and the veggies stayed pretty firm, to my surprise.

[Village Baker]

We prepared a Spanish Beach Dinner menu for 50 and needed to make some aspects, like the gazpacho, two days in advance. We only had 30 people attend and the portions were VERY generous.

[goodhealthgourmet]

"is there something I can do to save it in the freezer?"
~~~~~~
you don't have to "do" anything to it. seal/wrap it well and freeze.

[Village Baker]

Thanks for your responses. My concern about just freezing it is what will happen to the texture of the chopped cucumbers when defrosted. Maybe I can freeze it, then puree it to some degree once defrosted and add fresh cukes, peppers & scallions.

[goodhealthgourmet]

actually, assuming yours is a traditional recipe that contains vinegar, that plus the sugar from the tomatoes will help prevent the cucumbers from turning to pieces of watery mush. you'll still want to puree a portion of it when you defrost, and as you mentioned, perk up the texture with chopped fresh, crisp veggies, but it's totally doable.

[BobB]

And if the texture is less than appetizing after freezing to eat as a soup, it can still be good for use as salsa, both for chip-dipping and for use in cooking. I've used leftover gazpacho as a baking or poaching sauce for fish or chicken.

[Linda VH]

I used to make a thick gazpacho - large amount but I'm the only one in the house that ate gazpacho. We had some people drop by unexpectedly and I used the gazpacho like salsa with chips. My DH ate it and told me he loves the way I make salsa lol!

[OysterHo]

LOL I love this! This is me! Years ago I wouldn't eat gazpacho. I love salsa, always have. I have seen the error of my ways though, so it's all good :)

[carbonaraboy]

Bloody Marys for the neighbors.