summertime soup

I haven't tried this myself yet, but a friend made it and it was spectacular! I've had a couple of watermelon gazpachos in my life but this was by far the best. Knowing the home it was made in I have a feeling that high quality olive oil is key. I hope that when I do make this I can do it half as well as my friend did.

Watermelon Gazpacho

Recipe courtesy Tyler Florence at FoodNetwork.com

Serves: 4 servings

• 1 large tomato, pureed
• 1/2 serrano chile
• 2 cups cubed fresh watermelon
• 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons minced red onion
• 1/2 cucumber, seeded and minced
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh dill, plus more for garnish
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

In a blender, puree the tomatoes, chile, and 1/2 of the watermelon. Pour in the red wine vinegar and olive oil and pulse. Add the onion, cucumber and dill and season with salt and pepper. Puree until smooth. Pour into chilled bowls and sprinkle with dill, feta, and remaining watermelon. Serve.

that's a not so spicy meatball

Though I don't spend a lot of time focusing on it here, mostly because I don't bake a ton, I eat gluten-free. Most of the recipes here are whole-food based - no mixes, packets or pre-made ingredients. So it's easy to make foods that are gluten-free that everyone, even all the gluten eaters out there, can enjoy. Every once in a while though, I crave something that I have to figure out how to make gluten-free for myself because no one out there is selling it (yet - this list grows shorter every day - thankfully!). My latest craving has been for meatballs.

Meatballs and meatloaf have always been tricky because you have to get the starch in it right. I've tried pre-made gluten-free breadcrumbs: gross. Rice: works well, but is still rice-y tasting. Tonight I tried my favorite pre-made gf bread (Whole Foods Sandwich Bread). The no-pre-made rule goes out the window for baked goods - all of the breads I've tried to make have been as dense as bricks. Baking requires an exactitude I just can't bring to my cooking. I defrosted a slice of the bread in the microwave, tossed in oregano, basil and parsley as I crumbed it up in the food processor and woo! instant Italian breadcrumbs. If I'd gotten started earlier I might have toasted them up in the oven before I used them in the mix, but for a first try they worked extremely well.

Here's my recipe for gluten-free meatballs:

1 pound mix of ground pork, beef and veal
1 piece of white sandwich bread
1/2 - 1 tbsp dried oregano
1/2 - 1 tbsp dried basil
1/2 tbsp dried parsley
1 egg (I used 1 egg equivalent of egg whites since that's what I had on hand)
2 tbsp ketchup
2 tbsp parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Make breadcrumbs as described above and combine with all of the other ingredients. Shape into balls slightly smaller than golf balls - I ended up with 22 meatballs. Cook on cookie sheet in 350 degree oven for 20 minutes or until no longer pink inside. Cooking time will vary depending on the size of the meatballs.

I cooked up some gf spaghetti and a jar of fire-roasted tomato pasta sauce and plopped the meatballs right on top. I'm still in search of the perfect spaghetti - this was a bit too mushy - so next time I will probably use my old standby gf linguine. But the meatballs - they were pretty great! I will keep working on them, but these were pretty close to right. The title of this post also made me realize that next time I might add a dash of red pepper flakes to spice things up a bit.