Gazpacho

Ingredients:

2 cups chopped fresh or canned plum tomatoes
1 cup chopped cucumber
1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
1/3 cup olive oil (or less, optional)
Juice of 3 lemons
2 cups veggie broth
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup finely minced parsley
2 tablespoons Worcestershire
Pepper, coarsely ground
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Salt
1 46-ounce can tomato juice (unless you used canned tomatoes)
some hot sauce, to taste

Preparation:

Chop all in a food processor and combine in a bowl. Chill for at least 4 hours. If you have an emulsion blender, you can juice it in the bowl after it's chilled or leave chunky. Totally up to you.

Cheap Cioppino

Ingredients:

coriander seeds, fennel seeds and black pepper toasted and ground
1 medium onion, quartered
3 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 Turkish bay leaves or 1 California
1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme
1/8 teaspoon dried hot red-pepper flakes
1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes in juice
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup full-bodied red wine
1 pound skinless fillets of thick white-fleshed fish such as halibut, hake, or pollack, cut into 2-inch chunks ( I thawed a frozen seafood medley from Trader Joe's, with shrimp, scallops and squid rings and some cubed rock fish, $10)
1 pound cultivated mussels

Preparation:

Toast and grind the seeds and black pepper while you sweat the onions and garlic in a pot with your oil. Add salt, ground seeds, red pepper flakes, and thyme and sautee until onions are soft.

Deglaze with wine and boil for a bit. Add tomatoes in their juice.

Boil on high for 20 minutes (the broth will thicken the more you boil it.

Add fish and seafood and boil until cooked through.