Culinary SOS: Urth Caffé’s gazpacho

Dear SOS: I adore the gazpacho at the Urth Caffé. My recipe is so bland compared to theirs. I would love to know what they use to get such a wonderful flavor.

Lee Axelrod

Santa Monica

Dear Lee: With a medley of fresh and bright flavors, gazpacho is the perfect dish for a hot summer day. Urth Caffé was happy to share its secret with us, and we’ve adapted its recipe to share with you.

Urth Caffé’s gazpacho

Our recipes, your kitchen: If you try this or any other recipe from the L.A. Times Test Kitchen, we would like to know about it so we can showcase it on our food blog and occasionally in print. Upload pictures of the finished dish here.

FOR THE RECORD:
An earlier version of this recipe gave the wrong amounts for lemon juice and olive oil in the second step of the instructions. The amounts in the ingredient list were correct: 1½ teaspoons lemon juice and 1/4 cup olive oil. —

Total time: 30 minutes, plus chilling time for the gazpacho

Servings: 6

Note: Adapted from Urth Caffé.

1 1/2 pounds tomatoes (about 4), peeled, seeded and chopped (about 2 cups)

1 1/2 cups chopped seedless Persian cucumber (from about 4 whole)

1 cup diced onion (from about ½ whole)

1/2 cup diced green bell pepper (from about ¼ whole)

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 cup tomato juice, more to taste

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

Sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Pinch cayenne pepper

Tabasco sauce, or other hot sauce

1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice (from about ½ lemon)

1/4 cup olive oil

1 tablespoon diced fresh chives

1. In a blender, combine the tomatoes, cucumber, onion, bell pepper, garlic, tomato juice and vinegar. Puree the mixture, then pour into a medium bowl.

2. Season with 1½ teaspoons of salt, or to taste (amount of salt can vary depending on the brand of tomato juice, if purchased), one-half teaspoon each of black pepper and cayenne pepper, and one-fourth teaspoon of the Tabasco, the 1½ teaspoons of lemon juice and one-quarter cup of olive oil. Taste and adjust seasonings and flavoring as desired.

3. Cover and refrigerate the gazpacho until well-chilled. Stir in the chives, and thin if desired with additional tomato juice or water. Taste and adjust the seasonings once more. This makes a generous quart of gazpacho.

Each serving: 125 calories; 2 grams protein; 10 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams fiber; 9 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 0 cholesterol; 6 grams sugar; 701 mg sodium.

SOS REQUESTS: Send Culinary SOS requests to noelle.carter@latimes.com or Culinary SOS, Food section, Los Angeles Times, 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012. Please include your name, phone number and city of residence.