Yellow Tomato and Mango Gazpacho

I made my first soup! I don't know why I've been intimidated by the thought of it for so long, because I've had numerous people tell me how easy it can be to make.

I love soup. Hot soup, cold soup. If I ever buy lunch at work, which is pretty rare, you can bet I'm buying soup. Even during the summer. Fresh & Co., which has five locations in Manhattan, serves delicious soups, a number of which are gluten-free. My favorites are their split pea and kale, lentil, and quinoa soups. Oh, and I should also give a quick plug to The Splendid Spoon, a subscription-based soupery based in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Friends of mine own it and best of all, they deliver! Their soups are incredibly good and I believe all of their ingredients are local.

So why, until last night, had I never made soup? Oh right. I was intimidated. Well, I told myself before I started this blog was that I wasn't going to let myself be intimidated in the kitchen anymore. One of my goals is to get out of my comfort zone and try recipes that intimidate me. Not all of the time, of course, because as I've mentioned, I want to post quick and easy recipes as much as possible, but the only way I'm going to become a better cook is by pushing myself.

I recently subscribed to the DailyBuzz Healthy Living's "Today's Top 9" daily email, which aggregates their top nine favorite recipes from around the blogosphere. There's usually a theme, be it an ingredient, cuisine, etc., and yesterday's theme was mango. When I saw this recipe for Golden Tomato + Mango Gazpacho from The Smart Kitchen I knew it was going to be dinner, and my first attempt at making soup!

Much to my dismay summer is quickly coming to an end. I want to make the most of the local seasonal ingredients available as often as possible. So after work I walked down to the Union Square Greenmarket and bought as many of the ingredients as I could: yellow tomatoes, yellow peppers, and a sweet onion. The cucumber is straight from my dad's garden right outside of Washington, DC, where I was over the weekend.

Yellow Tomato and Mango Gazpacho

Makes about 3 and 1/2 cups (about 5 servings)

3 cups yellow tomatoes, coarsely chopped (roughly 2 large tomatoes)
1 cup yellow bell pepper, coarsely chopped (roughly 1 large pepper)
1 cup cucumber, peeled and coarsely chopped (roughly 1/2 large cucumber)
1 cup mango, peeled and coarsely chopped
1/3 cup sweet onion, chopped
Juice of 1 lime
Salt and pepper to taste
Mint or cilantro for garnish

Combine all ingredients in a food processor. Pour into a bowl and it's ready to eat! I added chopped mint, fresh from my new mint plant, but cilantro would probably taste just as good.

This was incredibly easy to make (chopping time included, it probably took 20 minutes at the most) and the perfect summer soup. I'm a little embarrassed to tell you that it was so good I had not one but three bowls last night.

And, as a total side note, I have to tell you that as I write this I'm sitting here listening to Regina Spektor's new album, What We Saw From the Cheap Seats, and it's fantastic. Listen to "Don't Leave Me (Ne me quitte pas)." The perfect song to start the day!