chilled cucumber, tomato, and sumac soup

{ Serves 4 to 5 }

This is my version of a classic gazpacho. It’s bold, confident, and refreshing. Sumac is a wonderful spice used a lot in Middle Eastern cooking. It has a beautiful tart, lemony flavor—if you can’t find any, you could substitute the zest of a quarter of a lemon.

                    1/2 cucumber, roughly chopped

                    3 Roma tomatoes, roughly chopped

                    1/2 red bell pepper, seeded and roughly chopped

                    1 teaspoon tomato paste

                    1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

                    1 teaspoon ground sumac

                    1 teaspoon ground cumin

                    Agave nectar

                    Maldon or other flaky salt

                    Freshly ground black pepper

                    Chopped salad, such as North African Salad, for serving, optional

               1. Put the cucumber, tomatoes, red pepper, tomato paste, vinegar, sumac, cumin, and agave nectar to taste in a blender. Blend until smooth and season with salt and pepper.

               2. Refrigerate the soup until it’s very, very cold, at least 2 hours.

               3. Serve the soup in chilled bowls, topped with a bit of chopped salad if you like. The North African salad works really well here because the flavors are equally punchy in both.