I’ve always loved the subtle sweetness of shrimp. Now since its peak summer, peaches are hitting their high mark of quality too.
I was reading the Inn at Little Washington’s cookbook and Pat O’Connell has a yellow tomato gazpacho that is paired with lobster. Below that recipe, he has a peach soup. I thought, “why not combine the two and add shrimp?”.
Instead of blending the bell peppers in the soup, I also thought “what if I made them into a salsa as a garnish?”. It’ll provide that crisp and mineral-like pop of flavor to balance out the sweetness!
Note, cheese cloth is highly recommended to extract the juice for the soup. A strainer will suffice, but not as well as cheese cloth.
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Wild Caught Shrimp, peeled and deveined | 1 Pound |
| Yellow Heirloom Tomatoes, cored and quarter-sliced | 2 Pounds |
| Peaches, pitted and quarter-sliced | 3 |
| English Cucumber, partly skinned and cut into 2 inch slices | 1 |
| Celery Stalks, ends trimmed and cut into 2 inch slices | 4 |
| Red Bell Pepper, thinly diced | 1 |
| Green Bell Pepper, thinly diced | 1 |
| White Onion, thinly diced | ½ |
| Lime’s Juice | 1 |
| Olive Oil | 1 ½ Tablespoon |
| Salt | 2 ½ Teaspoons |
| Pepper | 1 Teaspoon |
| Cumin | ½ Teaspoon |
| Arugula Microgreens or Chopped Parsley | ¼ Cup |
| Directions |
|---|
| Core and quarter slice the 2lbs of yellow tomatoes and 3 peaches. Partly skin the cucumber and cut into 2 inch slices. Remove the ends of the 4 celery stalks (optional to keep the leaves for additive flavor) and add all the vegetables to a large bowl, tall pot, or blender. Add a tablespoon of salt and ½ teaspoon of cumin and blend until all the ingredients are liquefied. If your blender is too small, then do it in batches. |
| Place a cheese cloth in a large bowl and pour half of the liquefied content on top. Make sure to grab all the ends of the cheese cloth though the tiny circle your create with your pointer finger so the content doesn’t pour out the top. Grasp the belly of the sack and squeeze out as much juice as you can, until there is just the fibers left of the vegetables and fruit. Remove the fibers from the cheese cloth and repeat this process once more with the remaining liquefied content. If you’re using a strainer, press the juice through with a ladle as much as you can. |
| Cover the bowl of juice and refrigerate for 2 hours until chilled. |
| Thinly dice the 2 bell peppers and ½ onion. Place in a small bowl with the 1 lime’s juice, 1 teaspoon of salt, and ½ tablespoon of olive oil. Mix and refrigerate until garnishing. |
| Chop the parsley, if you are not using arugula microgreens. |
| Peel and devein the shrimp. Coat with ½ teaspoon of salt, ½ teaspoon pepper, and ½ tablespoon of olive oil. Grill on high heat for 45 seconds on the first side and then 30 seconds on the other. Then refrigerate for a half hour until chilled. |
| Pour 2 ladles of the gazpacho in a small bowl. With 3 pieces of shrimp, place the heads facing the center, with enough room in between to form a small circle, at 12:00, 5:00, and 7:00, directionally. Take 2 small spoonfuls of the bell pepper salsa in the middle of heads of shrimp. Garnish with a drizzle of olive oil and sprinkle of arugula microgreens or chopped parsley. |
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