Putting Your Margarita Glasses to Good Use (with something other than margaritas)

When I got married in 2006, one of the most enjoyable parts of the engagement process outside of the fun of planning our future and wedding was registering for items to fill our new home. And I embraced it with passion. In fact, as a resident of a two bedroom apartment, we registered for far more items than we could possibly keep in our apartment. My theory was register for the house we will have one day, not the dwelling where we currently lived. As someone who loves to entertain and cook, I had a little too much fun with this process. Hence, we ended up with glassware galore and more platters than anyone could ever really need.

Which brings me to the inspiration for the recipe I cooked this weekend, gazpacho. When we unpacked 10 margarita glasses out of a gift box, my husband rolled his eyes. And, rightfully so given that our apartment can hold about four people for dinner and that is a tight squeeze! I decided if we were going to keep the glasses and not return them (we did return four of the 10 as I reasoned we could maybe squeeze in six people for a party), I needed to find multiple uses for the glasses rather than just using them for margaritas. A few summers ago, we had a small group for dinner and as I looked at the margarita glasses, I decided to use them to serve gazpacho and garnish each glass with a lemon so that it looked like a cocktail. It definitely made a traditional summer dish more visually appealing and was a special touch for dinner guests. Since that summer night, this has become one of my favorite recipes.

The recipe I used is from Tyler Florence. I omitted a couple ingredients including cucumbers and parsley as I don't care for either. In the past, I have also added jalapenos to increase the heat of the dish. Feel free to personalize the dish. It is delicious with shrimp or scallops if you want to turn it into a main course. Additionally, you can enjoy the leftovers for several days and the gazpacho gets even better each day the longer it sits.

Don't hesitate to make this recipe even though tomatoes are not in season right now. I suggest looking for the vine-ripened tomatoes at your local grocery store which tend to be flavorful and not too watery.

Now, the thought of chopping all the vegetables could be slightly daunting if you are pressed for time but luckily, nothing needs to be chopped perfectly. I prefer to use a more 'rustic' chop (read: various shapes and sizes and utilizing none of the learned skills from my knife skills class). Once everything is chopped, deposit it in the food processor with bread crumbs. If you do not have a large food processor, you may need to puree in batches. The original recipe calls for using day-old bread but the bread crumbs are much easier. Once the puree is complete, you add paprika, sugar, salt and pepper, olive oil, tomato juice, fresh lemon juice and olive oil.

You are left with a fantastic and refreshing summer dish. And, another use for those margarita glasses that sit on the shelves between crazy margarita parties. Oh wait, we've never really had those so good thing I came up with the gazpacho idea!

Margarita Glass Gazpacho

Ingredients (Serves 4-6)
*2 lbs tomatoes, chopped
*1 red bell pepper, chopped
*1 yellow bell pepper, chopped
*1 medium onion, chopped
*2 teaspoons minced garlic
*Salt and pepper to taste
*1 1/2 cups plain breadcrumbs
*1 tablespoon sugar
*1 tablespoon paprika
*1/4 cup sherry wine vinegar
*1/2 cup olive oil
*2 cups tomato juice
*1 lemon, squeezed

Details

*In a food processor, combine the tomatoes, red and yellow peppers, onion, garlic and breadcrumbs. Puree until almost smooth. Transfer to a large bowl.

*Add to the vegetable mixture salt and pepper to taste, sugar, paprika, sherry wine vinegar, olive oil and tomato juice. Squeeze juice of one fresh lemon into the gazpacho.

*Pour into a margarita glass or bowl and garnish with a lemon wedge.

Recipe Adapted from Tyler Florence Gazpacho Recipe