Gazpacho Salad

I’m back! My sincerest apologies for my 5-month hiatus. Life got crazy, and unfortunately blogging had to take a backseat. My fourteen hour days left little room for cooking, baking, and picture taking. However, now that student teaching is done (which was an absolutely fantastic experience which I will share more about later) and graduate school is cooling off, more time will be spent in the kitchen. Sweet.

As summer is fast approaching, I thought I would share this light and fresh salad recipe with you. It’s super easy to make, and totally refreshing to the taste buds. I’m sure they will appreciate this.

This recipe makes a ton, so I suggest halving the recipe unless you are feeding a large crowd.

Gazpacho Salad

Serves  5-8

From Food Network

For the Salad:

3 medium ripe tomatoes, seeds removed

1 red onion

1 yellow bell pepper, seeds removed

1 red bell pepper, seeds removed

1 cucumber

2 (6-ounce) packages baby spinach

For the Dressing:

½ cup red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon Creole mustard*

1 tablespoon honey

3/4 cup olive oil

Pinch red chili flakes

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

*Can’t find Creole mustard? Try this substitute: 6 tbsp. dijon mustard, ½ tsp. Worcestershire sauce, sprinkle of tabasco or hot sauce. Makes ¼ cup.

Start by chopping up your veggies and cleaning the spinach.

Once tomatoes, red onion, peppers, and cucumber are diced, add to a medium bowl and mix together.

Next, make the dressing. In a medium bowl, add red wine vinegar, Creole mustard, and honey. Whisk together. Slowly add in olive oil, to allow the mixture to emulsify. Stir in pinch of chili flakes and salt and pepper to taste.

Now assemble your salad. In a bowl, alternate layers of vegetables and spinach. Drizzle with the Red Wine Vinaigrette dressing. Simple, right? 

Done and done. Salads are so easy to make, and this one will surely be a crowd pleaser. The red wine vinaigrette gives these veggies a delicious tang. I don't even like vegetables and I thought this was great, so that is saying a lot. If you are a lover of gazpacho soup, you can have the same flavors in this salad on a hot summer day. 

Glad to be back. =)

Happy Eating!