Arugula Salad & Gazpacho Soup
The food I eat usually is colorful! All hues of the rainbow!
So one day, I got inspired by a twig of thyme in making my simple syrup which then lead me to making these colorful bowls!
This salad was inspired by the peppery and spicy arugula lettuce from my garden. Haven't had arugula yet? It's cheap at the grocery store, so do try! But there is a better way of trying arugula. Because it is so strong and spicy, we want to compliment this lettuce with sweet additions like fruit or a sweet dressing like poppyseed.
What I have done here is noodled up some zucchini from my mother's garden, threw in the arugula, sliced almond, red onion, clementine slices and threw it together in a vinaigrette. The California Poppy and Phlox flower I had to add for color! I didn't eat them just in case!
I did not have this in my fridge for this round but I highly recommend adding goat cheese to any arugula salad. Goat cheese is sweet which is perfectly paired with these ingredients.
The List
- 1 zucchini, noodled
- 1 1/2 cup arugula, roughly chopped
- clementines, fresh or canned
- 1/4 cup sliced almonds
- 1/4 cup or less of red onion, chopped
- a vinaigrette
--- I used 1:3 ratio of vinegar (I used white wine vinegar) to olive oil, pepper salt, dried herbs of your choice (I used oregano, italian, parsley and garlic powder). All of these ingredients are put into a small jar with a lid. Shake up the mixture before serving so everything is mixed well.
Ingredients
1 cucumber, peeled, chopped
1 bell pepper, yellow, roughly chopped
1/4 of a red onion, chopped
1 large jar/ can of chunky tomatoes
1/4 cuo olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegrette
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped (if you don't like cilantro, remove)
1 clove garlic
2 tbs Sriracha or other spicy additions like hot peppers
salt
pepper
Garnish:
Of those ingredients, leave a small amount of pepper, cucumber, onion, and cilantro for garnish. I added the basil just for the photo. Serve with bread to balance the tomato's acidity
Directions:
Throw all of your ingredients into a blender, pulse a couple of times and then blend to a medium consistency as you can see in the photos. Place in a bowl/pot and let chill in the refrigerator. Serve Chilled
Gazpacho Soup for the Win!!!
This cold soup is perfect for summer because it's very light and refreshing.
This soup also has... NO COOKING REQUIRED! Just prep.
The first time I had this soup was at my first job when I was 16. The place was called The White House bistro located in Saugutuck, Michigan. Beautiful artful town.
I didn't follow a recipe because it is literally throw all ingredients in the blender and that's it! So I will tell what ingredients I used and may or may not adjust as needed. You will need a blender for this recipe.
