By Chuck Martin
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Virtual Chef Kristy Schalck whipped up a fruit and veggie gazpacho on a very hot and hectic morning. (Ernest Coleman photo) | ZOOM |

Friday is not beginning well for Kristy Schalck. The chef-owner of the Tousey House in Burlington wheels into the Boone County Farmer's Market in her unmistakably magenta Jeep Cherokee at 10:55 a.m. - five minutes before she's supposed to start creating her Virtual Chef dish.

"You won't believe who knocked on the restaurant door at 10 o'clock," she yells out the window before parking. "The health inspector."

Health departments make unscheduled inspections at restaurants all the time. The inspector just happened to choose the morning Schalck was getting ready for her demonstration at the market.

Everything was fine - there were no violations. She just had to wait for the inspector to leave, then load her car with food and equipment. Fortunately, her restaurant is only a few minutes away from the farmer's market, also in Burlington.

Schalck is understandably exasperated as she begins pulling boxes from the Jeep. There are a lot of boxes to unload. The concept for this Virtual Chef episode is for Schalck to prepare a cold and uncooked dish using the five ingredients - tomatoes, sweet onions, cucumbers, bell peppers and peaches - chosen by readers in our online poll. There's no electricity at the market, so Schalck can't use blenders, food processors or other convenient gizmos. But she has brought along plenty of other things - a hand-crank food mill, knives, cutting boards, china soup tureens and jugs of water - everything but the kitchen sink.

VIRTUAL CHEF

Last week, we invited readers to vote for their favorite summer fruit and vegetables at Cincinnati.com. The more than 400 who voted picked these as the most popular: Tomatoes Sweet onions Cucumbers Peaches Bell peppers We gave this list to Virtual Chef Kristy Schalck, chef-owner of the Tousey House in Burlington. Using no heat or electric appliances, she created a cold soup using the primary ingredients (she also used several pantry ingredients) at the Boone County Farmer's Market in Burlington. Several people watched Schalck prepare her dish. They tasted and scored her creations. The scoring system: The chef starts with 90 points. The chef must use all five of the primary ingredients. For every five minutes under 30 minutes preparation time, the chef earns one bonus point. For every five minutes past 45 minutes preparation time, the chef is penalized one point. The "observation panel" tastes and scores the chef's creation on a 1 to 10 point scale. The scores are averaged and added to the chef's total score. Highest possible score: 106. Kristy Schalck's total score: 90.4.

Wait. She did bring a plastic tub that could almost pass for a sink.

Like most good chefs, Schalck begins by setting up her mise en place (MEEZ-ahn-plahs) - French for putting everything in its place. She arranges the cutting boards and organizes ingredients on a table under our tent so she can work efficiently. Mise en place is a habit more home cooks should practice.

Finally, by 11:23 a.m., the chef begins cutting and seeding tomatoes. Judy Parsons, a loyal Tousey House customer, arrives to watch. She heard about the Virtual Chef thing the night before, while eating at the restaurant.

"She's so creative," says Parsons, who later hands out Tousey House menus and business cards. Every restaurant needs enthusiastic patrons like Parsons.

After mulling it over Thursday - the day before - Schalck has decided to make a cold soup like gazpacho. She peels, seeds and chops a batch of cucumbers, then moves on to red and green bell peppers, removing not only the seeds and pithy membranes, but the very thin skins from the peppers. The woman is meticulous.

"Hey, y'all have any jalapenos?" Schalck yells at a farmer's booth across the way.

The answer is no, and Schalck is disappointed. She blew out of her restaurant so fast that morning, she forgot to bring the hot peppers.

"How much time do I have?" she asks.

Like other Virtual Chefs, Schalck will lose points if she's not finished before 45 minutes. Now, she's closing in on 35, and the heat is wilting. Even under the tent, it's plenty warm on the first day of August. But the chef keeps cutting, and maintains her cool.

"What are you making?" asks a woman as she approaches the table.

"A mess," replies Schalck with a grin.

Pretty puree

At this point, she has diced all of her vegetables. Now she begins peeling peaches. Normally, Schalck would dip the peaches in boiling water for a few seconds and quickly slip off their skins. But she has no stove and no boiling water, so she uses her paring knife to carefully remove the fuzzy skin.

The chef sets aside some of the sliced peaches with avocado slivers for garnish. Everything else goes into the food mill. Slowly, Schalck cranks the handle, until a pretty rosy puree comes out the other end.

She turns the thick soup into a stainless bowl, adds V-8 juice, olive oil, red wine vinegar, lime juice, dry sherry, chopped parsley and basil and a few other seasonings. (Virtual Chefs are allowed to use staple pantry ingredients.) She tastes the soup and gets a funny look on her face.

Something's not right.

Almost on cue, Adam Ramey, who works in Schalck's restaurant kitchen, drops by to watch his boss work. The chef sends him back to the Tousey House to pick up chipotle peppers, a smoked version of the missing jalapenos.

Ramey returns and she mixes a good dose of the chopped chocolate-brown chiles into her soup. She tastes it and gets that look again.

The chef sends Ramey back to the restaurant for garlic and feta cheese. He zips back with more cargo and Schalck adds chopped garlic to the soup, samples it and seems reasonably satisfied.

She garnishes the soup with rich crËme fraiche, crumbled feta, sliced peaches, avocado and a tortilla chip.

The soup is stunning. Unlike most gazpachos, this one has an added layer of flavor and richness from the avocado, which was part of the puree. The peaches add sweetness, the chipotles lend subtle heat.

Much better than good

Parsons gives the gazpacho high marks, even though she doesn't eat spicy food. So do friends Ann Marchioni and Paula Rundelli, who drove down from Cincinnati.

"A lot of things I like are good," says Linda Luther of Florence. "This is fabulous."

Schalck is not so sure.

"I think it needed more peaches," she says, sounding like a chef who is rarely satisfied.

Yes, Schalck exceeded the Virtual Chef time limit by 45 minutes. But she was working in the midday heat with no stove, food processor or running water.

And we think her farmers' market gazpacho was worth the extra time.

Gazpacho recipes

Unlike chef Kristy Schalck, you can save time by using a food processor to puree this soup.

Farmer's Market Gazpacho

3 cups cored and chopped tomatoes (about 6 medium)

1 1/2 cups diced onion (about 2 medium)

Farmer's Market Gazpacho

1 1/2 cups chopped, peeled and seeded cucumber (about 1 large)

1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper

1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper

1 tablespoon chopped garlic

1 avocado, peeled, pitted and chopped

2 peaches, peeled, pitted and chopped

1/2 cup V8 juice or tomato juice

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

Juice of 1/2 lime

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup dry sherry

1 1/2 teaspoons chopped chipotle chile (canned)

1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander

1/8 teaspoon curry powder

1/4 cup chopped basil

1/4 cup Italian parsley

Salt and pepper, to taste

Garnish: Finely sliced peaches, avocado, tomato and/or cucumber

Creme fraiche

Tortilla chips

Crumbled feta cheese

Puree vegetables, garlic, avocado and peaches in food processor until smooth. Add V8 juice, vinegar, lime juice, olive oil, sherry, chopped chipotle, coriander and curry. Pulse processor to mix well.

Pour soup into large bowl and add chopped basil and parsley. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cover and chill soup well, at least 2 hours.

Garnish each serving of gazpacho with sliced peaches, avocado, tomato and/or cucumber. Add a dollop of crËme fraiche and tortilla chip. Sprinkle crumbled feta over top. Makes about 10 servings.