Green Gazpacho

This gazpacho recipe will serve around 12 as a first course. I have tried to remember the proportions but this is a rough idea; it's good to have extras of the various ingredients to adjust to taste.

-9 cucumbers, peeled and chopped

-1 cup green grapes

-1/4 cup almonds

-1 onion, chopped

-6 cloves of garlic

-1/3 cup fresh parsley

-1 jalapeño pepper, sliced (including ribs and seeds)

-Juice of 2 lemons

-1 cup olive oil

-1/2 cup champagne vinegar (any white wine vinegar will also work)

-1 small loaf of crusty white bread

-Salt, black pepper, and crushed red pepper.

-Slice the bread and put in a bowl; drizzle with about half the olive oil and vinegar and set aside to soak.

-Puree the other ingredients. I use a food processor and need to do it in several batches. To each batch with the food processor running, add drizzles of olive oil and vinegar to incorporate.

-Strain the soup. This step is a pain but the texture was feeling really mealy with the grape skins, almond bits, and cucumber and japaneño seeds. After straining the soup will be watery but smooth, and the flavors will be amazing.

-Puree the soaked bread, incorporating some of the strained soup back into the food processor to help in liquifying everything.

-Mix the pureed bread and soup into the main batch (keep an eye on the texture, if it's looking thick enough you don't have to add all of the bread), adjust seasoning, and chill until ready to serve (the freezer works fine for this; just take it out a little before serving and mix it up to melt any bits that may have frozen around the edges).

-Serve with a garnish of sliced grapes or cucumbers or tomatoes, or herbs, or whatever you want!