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Tomato Cucumber Water

Excerpted with permission from Canal House Cooking by Christopher Hirsheimer & Melissa Hamilton. © 2010.

Prep time:

Cook time:

Total time:

Yield: Makes about 8 cups

This is hardly a recipe! But this beautifully flavored elixir is well worth the trouble. If you are making the aspic variation, use the ratio of 1 packet gelatin to 3 cups tomato-cucumber water. It will be soft and delicate, cool and refreshing with the flavor of an ethereal gazpacho.

Categories:
  • Beverages
Print
Ingredients
  • 4 pounds tomatoes, stemmed, cored, and quartered
  • 1 large english cucumber, peeled and cut into large pieces
  • 2 tablespoons salt
  • Finely minced chives
  • Finely minced fresh or preserved lemon rind
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Instructions
  • Purée the tomatoes and cucumbers with the salt in a food processor. Line a large bowl with a large piece of cheesecloth or a very thin, clean muslin kitchen towel. Pour the puréed tomatoes and cucumbers into the towel-lined bowl. Gather the ends of the towel and tie them into knots. Slip a long- handled wooden spoon or dowel through and under the knots and suspend the towel over the bowl so the tomato-cucumber water can slowly drip into the bowl. Resist the urge to squeeze the pulp in the towel, it will make the tomato-cucumber water cloudy. Allow the tomatoes to drip for 4-8 hours, then discard the pulp and refrigerate the tomato-cucumber water. Serve cold in chilled bowls or glasses with the chives and lemon rind.
  • VARIATION: To make Tomato-Cucumber Water Aspic, soften 1 packet unflavored gelatin in 2 tablespoons cool water in a medium bowl. Add ½ cup hot tomato-cucumber water and stir until the gelatin has dissolved. Stir in 2½ cups of cool tomato-cucumber water. Cover and refrigerate until it sets. It will be a soft gelatin. Spoon into chilled glasses or bowls and serve garnished with minced chives and lemon rind, and the chopped flesh of a seeded, peeled, ripe tomato. Makes 3 cups
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About The Show

Lynne Rossetto Kasper, Host

In 1994, acclaimed food writer and cooking teacher Lynne Rossetto Kasper was receiving accolades for her debut book, The Splendid Table, which at that time was the only book to have won both the James Beard and Julia Child Cookbook of the Year awards. Among the many people enchanted by the book was producer and foodie Sally Swift, who thought the time could be right for a radio program on food.

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