Cucumber Mint Gazpacho

• Gazpacho
• 1.5 pounds thin-skinned cucumbers -- about 10 small Persian cucumbers or 2 seedless/English cucumbers
• 1/2 cup cold water
• 1 small onion or 1/2 large onion
• 5 garlic scapes (or 2-3 cloves regular garlic)
• 1 tablespoon tightly packed mint leaves (about 30)
• 1/2 cup almonds (skinned)
• 1/4 cup olive oil (not the fancy stuff)
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar
• kosher salt
• 1 cup stale bread, cut into cubes. I've found challah or ciabatta to be best. You can keep on some crust, but too much and the soup will come out less creamy, more gritty
• Garnishes (optional)
• 1.5 cups grapeseed (or other mild oil), divided
• 1/2 cup mint leaves
• 15 garlic scapes
• 1/4 cup almonds (skinned)
• 1 small cucumber

1. Rough chop the cucumber and add to the blender jar with the cold water. Puree until smooth. Rough chop the onion and scapes and add to the blender jar with the mint leaves. Puree again. Then add the almonds. oli, and vinegar, and keep pureeing until the entire mix is smooth.
2. Add the bread cubes and let them soak up the liquid for at least 30 minutes. When they have softened up, puree again until very smooth. Add salt to taste.
3. You want to serve this cold, so refrigerate for at least an hour (straight in the blender jar) before serving. The soup with thicken a bit, so you may need to add a little cold water and blend until it's the consistency you want.
4. Garnish as much as you'd like (see recipes below). Drizzle with olive oil, mint oil, and/or garlic scape oil. Sprinkle with toasted almonds and/or chopped cucumber.
5. Make mint oil. In a food processor, puree 1/2 C oil and mint. After letting the oil sit for a day, you can strain out the solids (or not...I didn't). Drizzle over soup.
6. Make garlic scape oil. In a food processor, puree 1 C oil and garlic scapes. After letting the oil sit for a day, you can strain out the solids (or not...I didn't). Drizzle over soup.
7. Toast the almonds until they just start to darken. Let them cool and then pulse in a food processor a few times (or chop). Sprinkle over soup.
8. Cut cucumber into tiny cubes. Sprinkle over soup.

gazpacho, cucumbers, cold water, onion, garlic, tightly packed mint, almonds, olive oil, red wine vinegar, kosher salt, stale bread, grapeseed, mint leaves, garlic, almonds, cucumber

Taken from food52.com/recipes/18115-cucumber-mint-gazpacho (may not work)