Nom Nom Paleo: Food for Humans (36 page)

As a child, I despised gazpacho. Once I tasted the sharply acidic sludge my gastro-curious mom picked up at the neighborhood deli, I swore off chilled tomato soup for life. But years later, I sampled a bowl of Paul Bertolli’s gazpacho at Oakland’s Oliveto, and suddenly, my taste buds stood at attention. So
that’s
what gazpacho tastes like when it’s made with sun-ripened heirloom tomatoes and not watered-down vegetable juice mixed with metallic-tasting canned tomatoes! Who knew?

Nowadays, when the mercury rises, gazpacho’s one of my favorite simple, make-ahead recipes—especially when combined with the bright flavors of juicy watermelon, cool cucumbers, and crisp red peppers. For this recipe, use the best tomatoes and sweetest watermelon you can find. And no, removing the skins from the tomatoes and cucumber is not optional. Make this soup when you’re wilting under the sun, and you can thank me later. It’s summertime in a bowl, people.

1. F
   ill a large pot with water and bring it to a boil on the stove. In the meantime, fill a large bowl with water and ice.
   
2. C
   ut a small X on the bottom of each tomato with a sharp paring knife. Once the water reaches a rolling boil, carefully drop the tomatoes into the pot and blanch for
   30
   seconds. Transfer the tomatoes to the bowl of ice water.
   
3. A
   fter the tomatoes chill in the bowl for a minute or two, slide their skins off. Core and roughly chop them, reserving all the juice and seeds.
   
4. F
   inely dice one-third of the cucumber and set aside to garnish the finished soup. Roughly chop up the rest of the cucumber.
   
5. T
   oss the tomatoes, cucumber, shallots, bell pepper, and cilantro into a blender and purée until the vegetables are liquefied. Make sure to cover the lid with a towel to reduce splashes and splatters.
   
6. A
   dd the watermelon, vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes (if desired) to the puréed vegetables, and blend until smooth. Taste and adjust for seasoning.
   
7. R
   efrigerate the soup in the blender cup for at least
   4
   hours or until fully chilled. The ingredients may separate while resting in the refrigerator, so just prior to serving, place the blender cup back on the base and blitz the soup again to recombine.
   
8. T
   o serve, ladle the gazpacho into chilled cups or bowls. Top with a drizzle of olive oil, the reserved cucumber, and freshly cracked pepper.
   

Chemically speaking, when hard-boiled eggs are overcooked, the sulfur and hydrogen in the egg white form hydrogen sulfide, which in turn reacts with the iron in the yolks to form ferrous sulfide—a.k.a. the ugly, smelly, gray-green rings encircling the yolks. Overdone eggs are often also impossible to peel, leaving you with unsightly pockmarked disasters. Sure, these may be mere cosmetic flaws, but they make your eggs less than appetizing.

In contrast, properly cooked hard-boiled eggs are odorless and perfectly peelable, with vibrant, cheery yolks. And let’s face it: to be a true kitchen ninja, you need to know how to consistently turn out perfectly formed hard-boiled eggs that everyone wants to pop in their mouths.

1. U
   sing a pin or thumbtack, poke a hole on the wide bottom of each of the eggs.
   
2. G
   ently place the eggs in a wide saucepan in a single layer and add the water and baking soda. (The sodium bicarbonate will help the eggs separate from their shells, making them easier to peel.) Make sure the eggs are at least
   1
   inch below the surface.
   
3. P
   ut the saucepan on the stove, and crank the heat to high. As soon as the water comes to a boil, set a timer for
   1
   minute. When the minute’s up, take the pot off the heat, cover with a lid, and let the eggs sit in the hot water for
   10
   minutes. Don’t forget to set a timer!
   
4. I
   n the meantime, fill a large bowl with water and ice. Once the timer goes off, transfer the eggs to the ice water and submerge for
   5
   minutes.
   
5. T
   hen, fish the eggs out of the icy water, gently rap them against a hard surface to crack the shells, and peel each egg starting from the bottom end (where you poked the pinhole). The shells should come right off, with no fuss or muss.
   
6. T
   he result: perfectly cooked eggs, with no ugly gray-green rings around the yolks, no foul odor, and no telltale divots in the whites. If you aren’t eating the eggs right away, store them in the fridge in a sealed container. They’ll keep for up to a week.