This cold, summery soup is the easiest dinner party stunner (or quick, lovely lunch). To play up the sweetness of the tomatoes, we like to throw in a few white (or yellow) peaches (or nectarines). A drizzle of basil oil takes the soup from good to grand. Serve cold or room temp with a sprinkle of flavorful things — like minced cukes, peppers, peaches, thinly shaved chiles, microgreens and/or some edible flowers, if you happen to have any on hand — and a glass of rosé, naturally.

Ingredients

• 2 large peaches, preferably white, pitted and roughly chopped
• A bit over 2 pounds of multicolored to meters, roughly chopped
• 1 large red (or yellow or orange) bell pepper receded and roughly chopped
• 2 Persian cucumbers, roughly chopped
• 1 White onion roughly chopped
• 2 large cloves garlic
• 1-2 Tablespoons sherry or red wine vinegar
• juice of  1 lime
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• Sea salt and black pepper
• Basil Oil

Preparation

1. Set a bit of peach, bell pepper and cucumber aside to use as garnish; give it a finer chop to make it garnish-ready.
2. Throw everything else, except the olive oil and salt/pepper, into a blender and blend until smooth.
3. Drizzle in olive oil and salt and blend again until creamy.
4. Taste and adjust salt and acid as needed. (If your blender isn’t super powerful, combine the chopped veg, olive oil, vinegar and lime in a big bowl, give it a good sprinkle of salt and pepper, and let it sit for 15-30 minutes to let juices accumulate…this liquid will help your blender pulverize it all.)
5. Serve the gazpacho with a sprinkle of cucumber, bell pepper and peach and a generous drizzle of basil oil (if you have a green chile on hand, that’s nice on there, sliced paper thin, too!).

Cook’s Notes

•  Ask for seconds (aka super super ripe fruit) at the market. They are cheap as can be and it doesn’t matter if your tomatoes/peaches are a bit mushy! It’s all going in the blender. And no need to peel them!