A Summer Classic- Gazpacho

It's funny- all winter I dream about summer vegetables- and those dreams always include beautiful tomatoes and corn on the cob.  What I tend to forget is that tomatoes and corn don't really peak in their season until August.  The past couple of weeks though, beautiful tomatoes and perfect corn has been available throughout Farmers Markets- and I have been scooping them up!  When faced with what to make for a picnic I was attending over the Labor Day weekend, I looked to my fruit bowl and saw gorgeous, ripe tomatoes.  I checked the rest of my kitchen and sure enough- fresh ears of corn sat waiting to be shucked.  Gazpacho would be made.

I love Gazpacho in general, because it's delicious, but I love it even more for a picnic.  Gazpacho is a classic Spanish soup- created by combining tomatoes, stale bread and other seasonal vegetables, into a chilled, raw soup.  When allowed to sit for a bit, the flavors of the vegetables and spices mingle together, and the result is a super flavorful, hearty soup.

2 fresh tomatoes, medium to large size, cut into chunks
2 slices stale white bread, cut into chunks
1/3 cup onion (red or yellow) diced
1 cup + fresh parsley
1 jalapeno, cut into circles
Kernels only 1 ear of cooked corn
1/2 cup diced cucumber
1/4 cup crumbled feta
Olive Oil
salt
pepper

In a food processor (blender would also work) combine the tomatoes, bread, onion, parsley and jalapeno.  Drizzle the olive oil into the top until the soup reaches the correct consistency- for me- this is a thick soup so maybe 1/4 of a cup to a 1/3 of a cup.  Add salt and pepper to taste. 

Transfer the soup from the blending/processing apparatus into a bowl. Add the corn, cucumber and feta. 

Let the soup chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours- over night.  Serve with additional feta and chopped parsley garnish.