Hot "Gazpacho"

I was browsing through a favourite old Weight Watchers cookbook this morning (In A Flash, published in 1998) and realized I had all the ingredients for this yummy soup. I annotate my cookbooks, writing the date I first tried the recipe, and a comment on the results. There are only 124 recipes in this slim volume, and I've tried (and mostly loved) 60 of them. I can't claim this record for any other book in my substantial collection.

So right beside Cheesy Couscous (tagged as 'Wonderful!' on 01-19-99) I found this gem of an until-today-untested recipe. Although gazpacho means 'uncooked', this take on the classic Spanish cold soup is hot in both senses of the word: it's served warm, and the chilli sauce adds as much fire as you fancy.

Hot "Gazpacho"

1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 small cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped
1 onion, chopped
3 tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1/4 cup packed cilantro leaves
3 cups low sodium V8 juice
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
Freshly ground pepper
Hot chilli sauce, to taste

In a food processor, pulse the bell pepper, cucumber and onion until finely chopped; transfer to a nonreactive saucepan. In the food processor, pulse the tomatoes and cilantro until finely chopped; add to the pepper mixture. Stir in the remaining ingredients, except for the hot sauce. Heat the soup to serving temperature, and add the hot sauce to taste.

Mmmmmmmmm!!!