What's not to like about gazpacho? The cold soup is a refreshing blast of tomato flavor in the heat of summer. Ah, but not so fast! Typical recipes for this tasty low-fat, low-cal soup often contain high amounts of sodium.

For instance, a 1-cup serving of canned, ready-to-serve gazpacho contains 739 milligrams of sodium, as measured by the USDA's Nutrient Analysis Lab (nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search).

The average person should consume no more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium a day, or about 1 teaspoon of salt. The Kansas City Star's recipe for Chunky Gazpacho With Grilled Shrimp reduces the salt to 167 milligrams by using just ¼ teaspoon of salt and reduced-sodium tomato juice.

Shopping tip: For testing purposes, we used Campbell's brand reduced-sodium tomato juice.

Cooking tip: For this recipe, feel free to use fresh or frozen shrimp that has been thawed. Do not buy fresh cooked shrimp or you will wind up cooking them twice, which gives a rubbery texture.

Chunky gazpacho with grilled shrimp

Makes 8 servings

For the gazpacho:

3 ripe tomatoes, quartered and seeded

½ cucumber, cubed

1 red pepper, seeded and cut into wedges

3 cloves garlic

2 shallots, peeled and halved

3 ½ cups reduced-sodium tomato juice

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 teaspoon olive oil

½ teaspoon sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

Freshly ground pepper, to taste

For the grilled shrimp:

1 pound large shrimp (31 to 35 shrimp per pound), peeled and de-veined

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced

à teaspoon cayenne

à teaspoon cumin

Place tomatoes in work bowl of food processor. Pulse to chop until finely and evenly chopped but not liquefied. Spoon into a bowl and set aside.

Process cucumber until very finely chopped, then stir into tomatoes. Process red pepper until very finely chopped, then stir into tomato mixture. Process garlic and shallots until finely chopped, then stir into tomato mixture. Stir in tomato juice, vinegar, oil, sugar, salt and pepper.

Cover and allow to chill several hours or overnight.

To grill shrimp: Place shrimp and remaining ingredients in zip-top bag; seal and squeeze gently to coat shrimp evenly. Refrigerate about 30 minutes. Drain and discard marinade. Skewer shrimp.

Preheat grill to medium-high or allow coals to burn down to white ash. Spray grill grate with nonstick spray coat-ing. Grill shrimp 3 to 4 minutes per side or just until shrimp are done and turn pink; do not overcook.

To serve, spoon chilled chunky gazpacho into serving bowls. Place about 4 shrimp in each bowl of soup.

Per serving: 110 calories (19 percent from fat), 2 grams total fat (trace saturated fat), 86 milligrams cholesterol, 10 grams carbohydrates, 13 grams protein, 167 milligrams sodium, 2 grams dietary fiber.

Recipe developed for The Star by professional home economists Kathryn Moore and Roxanne Wyss.

(c) 2007, The Kansas City Star.

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