Lib Slack's Gazpacho

My maternal grandmother, Lib Slack, was a fine cook in the Southern home-cooking tradition.  I am grateful that she passed her talents down to my mother, who is a fine cook in multiple traditions.  Dinner at our house was an international pot-luck:  our mother cooked Italian, Spanish, Mexican, Texican, and more, and our father cooked French, Mexican, and more. 

Many of my grandmother's recipes have been lost or mislaid, but I have a few on recipe cards and others in the memory banks.  She picked up a recipe for gazpacho while living in South America.  Gazpacho is of Spanish origin; it is a summer soup made with fresh vegetables and served chilled.  Most recipes call for the ingredients to be run through a blender or food processor, resulting in a smooth, uniform product; Lib Slack's gazpacho is made differently, with the non-juice ingredients being finely diced but not processed.  This preserves the "crunch" of the fresh vegetables and IMHO enhances the finished product.

INGREDIENTS: 

1 large (64-oz.) jar of tomato juice
4-6 ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped
2-3 stalks celery, chopped fine
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, chopped fine
1 sweet green or red bell pepper, chopped fine
1 young yellow squash, chopped fine
1-2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
2-3 scallions:  remove the very lowest part of the base; slice thinly the white and light green part of the stalk; then make several wider slices of the dark green part
2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
dash or two of garlic salt
3-4 dashes of Worcestershire sauce
Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

PROCESS:  Blend all of the ingredients; refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

I recommend Campbell's tomato juice; do not use V-8 juice.