Eat This! Zucchini and Beet Gazpacho...you'll like it I promise!

Damn you baguette! One of my most beloved foods in the entire world(like desert island list) is of course a French baguette with like a stick of butter. Last week I had gone out to celebrate with my cousins and after an evening of libations and spirits I came home and thought that that particular combination made perfect sense….but instead I basically can opened my back tooth fractured it and exposed a nerve. So six stitches and one emergency surgery later I find myself on a diet of Motrin ,pain killers ,Wendy’s frostys , rice pudding yogurt and room temperature mashed potatoes…Im over it and Im over the  5 pound weight gain in three days!

So this time of the year I would usually be presenting you with my beloved Gazpacho recipe. This year I’m going to switch things up with a French version of the Spanish Classic. I first had the cold beet version  of this a few years ago in Paris. It was a touch savory , light and subtly earthy . They  served it with some crumbled hard boiled eggs and croutons.  Gazpacho basically is a liquid salad so the croutons and the egg make sense.  This will literally take about 15 minutes and makes 4 servings, perfect for a light lunch if you are trying to lose some weight especially if you have been on a mashed potato and ice cream diet for 4 days!(once again I broke into easy to follow steps)

1 ½ cups Chicken stock

2 large zucchini sliced

1 med onion diced

1 shallot diced

1 cup celery diced

1 med beet cooked and pureed (you can use a can of beets just drain)

Sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
3 Cardamom seeds ground(this is the secret)

2 tsp Celery salt

Olive oil (1 tsp)

Juice from one lemon

2 ½ cups water

Parsley

Step1

In one small pan boil two eggs.  In another pan bring water just to a boil then remove from heat.

Step 2

In a large skillet sauté zucchini and onions celery shallots cardamom ,salt and pepper celery salt for 3 minutes stirring. Remove from heat and set aside.

Step 3

Working in batches purée the sauté veggies with some chicken broth and add the purée to the hot water . Then stir add in lemon juice and  pureed beets . Chill at least 1 hour and serve with crumbled hard boiled eggs and fresh parsley.