Test Kitchen: Three Melon Gazpacho
Tucked inside the French Quarter's W Hotel, SoBou is a new eatery that's described as a "modern Creole saloon." Executive Chef Juan Carlos Gonzalez, who collaborated with Consulting Chef Tory McPhail of Commander's Palace to build SoBou's menu, shared this summertime soup recipe with us, and we couldn't wait to try it out. This gazpacho is ridiculously easy and seriously delicious, and we only have a few notes from the Test Kitchen.
First of all—is this the healthiest thing we have ever eaten? Probably. A more beautiful collection of ingredients could not be found, and where there are vibrant colors in the kitchen, there are loads of nutrients. For a few minutes before we hit the "on" button, the filled-to-the-brim Cuisinart was a work of antioxidant art.
Without fresh ginger in the kitchen, we substituted two teaspoons of ground ginger. We also opted out of the boiled shrimp, and—sorry to say it—accidentally left out the "vinegar to taste." Despite these three tweaks, the resulting concoction was delectable. Call your neighbors over for an al fresco end-of-summer gathering, then watch this gazpacho disappear.