Gazpacho Stakcs

This may be my favoritest salad ever. I really love the flavor and texture combinations, even if you don't make it as a stack. It can save you a lot of grief if you just make a big pile of vegetables and drizzle that with the dressing, because the stacks can be a pain in the neck. But they do look very nice. Caveat - if you are serving stacks, make sure to serve them on a full-sized dinner plate, because a smaller plate will not contain the collapse once your guest (or you) sticks a fork into the stack.

This recipe was taken from "Stacks: The Art of Vertical Food" by Deborah Fabricant.

Gazpacho salad stacks:

Planning ahead:
-prepare and drain all the vegetables the day before. The secret to this salad is uniformly diced and drained veggies
-Prepare the dressing the day before
-Assemble the stacks 2 hours ahead and chill
-Prepare the minced parsley early in the day

Ingredients
1 green bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
1/2 red onion, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon sugar
3 cups small croutons
1 1/2 avocados, peeled, pitted, and diced
2 cups peeled, seeded, and diced tomatoes, drained (approx 3)
1 english cucumber, peeled, seeded, diced, and drained
3 whole green onions, diced
6 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
Garlic-Lemon dressing
12 kalamata olives, pitted and chopped, for garnish (I didn't have any olives, so didn't use them)
1/2 cup capers, for garnish (I also didn't have capers, so skipped them)
6 anchovies, diced, for garnish (I also didn't have anchovies, so didn't use them)


Advance Preparation
Toss the peppers, onion, and celery with vinegar and sugar. Set aside.
Assembly
Spray 6 stack cylinders with vegetable spray and place them on a parchment-lined sheet pan. Layer in the following order: 1/4 cup croutons, 2 tablespoons pepper-onion-celery mixture, 1 tablespoon avocado, 2 tablespoons tomatoes, 2 tablespoons cucumbers, 1 teaspoon green onions, 1 teaspoon parsley. Repeat the layers. Press down firmly and chill for 1 to 2 hours.
To serve, slide a spatula under each stack cylinder and transfer to a serving plate. Unmold and drizzle dressing over and around stack. Garnish with olives, capers, anchovies, and 2 tablespoons minced parsley and serve.

Garlic-Lemon Dressing:
Yield: about 2/3 cup

3 cloves garlic, peeled
1 teaspoon salt
zest of one lemon
2 tablespoons fresh basil
3 teaspoons Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Dash of Tabasco sauce
Freshly ground pepper to taste
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

combine the garlic, salt, lemon zest, basil, mustard, lemon juice, Tabasco, and pepper in a food processor and blend well. Slowly add the oil while the machine is running until the dressing is well blended and thickened. Can be made ahead and refrigerated.