Two Toned Melon Gazpacho

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Now mind you, I am not the only woman vying for The Ombudsman’s time. Sure, his quality time is spent with me, (or so I like to think. Being that kind of friend) but he also spends some hours with The Historical Babe, doing all sorts of bendy yoga maneuvers and dining on raw foods.

Seriously, it seems as if they're always getting massages and doing all sorts of calming activities. It's sexy stuff.

So when I ran in to them outside of the very chic and delightful Akasha restaurant in when-did-this-place-become-cool Culver City the other night, I wasn't the slightest bit surprised. Having just eaten there myself in the company of everybody's favorite Texan, Pace, I was able to vouch for it's excellence and tranquil vibe.

The ideal spot for the health and environment conscious who still want a super star meal.

What is so darn-tastic loveroo about it is that they are all about the whole grains and locally sourced biz-nizz. Makes a girl happy. Plus, the food is just dreamy fabulocity. All earthy and groovy without getting too darned granola. (Not that I don't love my granola-eatin' peeps mind you, but this restaurant is just not that vibe) In other words, it gets my kudos rating.

Having split a roasted artichoke, tomato tart (so delish!), short ribs and a summertime trio of desserts (yum. rhubarb. yum.) I did think I may have gone a bit on the heavy side for such a postcard perfect evening. So the next day, with my farmers market bounty calling, I made this fun soup duo to balance things out. Light for heavy. Vegetable for animal.

Easy as can be to zip together and a visual delight to present. It's light and refreshing and just what a girl needs on a lazy summer day. Especially after sampling Akasha's key lime and hibiscus cocktails...

So do try this my peaches and taste the joy.

4 each tomatoes, 2 red, 2 yellow
4 cups melon, 1/2 watermelon, 1/2 cantaloupe
2 each bell pepper, 1 red, 1 yellow
2 each jalapeno chile pepper, one red, one green
2 each cucumber, peeled and seeded
2 cloves garlic
3/4 cup olive oil
4 teaspoons sherry vinegar
2 cups white bread , crusts removed
2 tablespoons sugar, as needed
2 tablespoons tomato paste
salt and pepper
3 bunches chervil , optional, for garnish


In a food processor, combine all of the red ingredients (including all of the tomato paste) and half the garlic, olive oil , vinegar and bread. Taste and adjust seasoning, adding sugar only if needed.

Clean out the food processor bowl and do the same with the yellow ingredients, (excluding the tomato paste) taste and adjust seasoning (salt, sugar, vinegar) as needed.

Refrigerate each batch until chilled.

To serve, you can either pour the two colors into a bowl simultaneously (side by side) or use chef rings (round cookie cutters) to make a bulls-eye pattern. You can also use a toothpick, drawing out from the center to create a pattern.

Garnish with chervil and serve.

© 2008 Fresh Approach Cooking
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© 2008 Rachael at "Fresh Approach Cooking" www.freshcatering.blogspot.com This RSS Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, or at the aforementioned url, the site you are looking at is guilty of infringing upon terms of copyright. And generally cheesing me off.

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It costs farmers £1.45 to produce a kilo of pork, according to BPEX (the British Pig Executive), which represents the pork industry. At the beginning of 2008 supermarkets sold pork for £1.05 a kilo, and by May - eight months after farmers had started bearing the increased cost of feed - it had still only gone up to £1.20 a kilo. 78 per cent of the British public said they were prepared to pay more for pork to help farmers who have been campaigning for a better price. - BBC