Confession: I made this dish a couple weeks ago, one of the last posts conceived in my old kitchen, because I moved last weekend! Apologies for the lack of posts in the last couple weeks — between traveling to Michigan for my cousin’s wedding, packing up my apartment and moving, and my 17-year-old brother coming to visit this weekend, blogging has sort of taken a backseat (but not for long, I promise!).

THE DISH
Simple tomato gazpacho (recipe at the bottom)

THE INSPIRATION
It has been hotter than hell in the city, which has made the thought of cooking quite unappealing. Standing over a stove or in front of an oven? In a sauna? No, thank you. (OK, so I’ve still had to do it a bit anyway; but it’s awful.) So I made gazpacho, cold soup that doesn’t require any cooking. To go with it, check out a few summery songs I’ve heard recently — maybe they’ll make you forget about the heat for a little while?

THE MUSIC

http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F2308357 Darwin Deez – Deep Sea Divers by LuckyNumberMusic

http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/v=2/track=2806065607/size=grande/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=4285BB/

http://grooveshark.com/songWidget.swf

THE RECIPE (Adapted from Oh She Glows)

Ingredients:

5 cups fresh spinach
2 cups tomato juice, divided
About 1/2 cup cilantro
1/4 cup onion, chopped
1 cucumber, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
4 cloves garlic
8 Roma tomatoes
2 jalapenos
Juice from 1 lime
Red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper to taste

Directions:

• Dice the cucumber, 4 Roma tomatoes and onion; finely chop the jalapeno and add to a large bowl.

• In a food processor, combine the spinach with 1/2 cup tomato juice. Add to bowl with diced veggies.

• Also in the food processor, combine the remaining 4 Roma tomatoes with the cilantro and garlic cloves. Add to bowl. (If your food processor is as tiny as mine is, you might have to do this in a couple batches.)

• Add the remaining 1 1/2 cups tomato juice, along with lime juice, salt, pepper, and pepper flakes to taste.

• Refrigerate for a while; it tastes better when the flavors have time to soak together.