Test Kitchen - Papaya Gazpacho

I am loving the participation I have been seeing on the Test Kitchen series on Facebook. Okay sure, I do berate you all a little bit throughout the week to put in some suggestions but I think it keeps us both on our toes, don't you? Last week's ingredient was papaya, and I definitely learned a lot of fantastic things about it through your comments. For example, did you know all of the health benefits of papaya for your digestion? Science! Anyhow, after reviewing all of your suggestions, I settled on Michael's for papaya gazpacho, mainly because I've never made gazpacho before. It certainly looks pretty, doesn't it? For those of you who may not be familiar with this particular item, it's a cold soup that is sure to brighten up your spring days. Give this a whirl (literally)!

Step 1: Ingredients (yields 6-8 servings)

1 ripe papaya, about 2-3 pounds, diced & separated
1 small habanero pepper, minced
2/3 cup orange juice, high pulp
3/4 cup vegetable broth
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1 medium shallot, finely minced
1/2 medium avocado, 1/2" dice
1/2 medium cucumber, peeled and 1/2" dice
cilantro, for garnish
freshly ground black pepper, for garnish

Step 2: Prepping the ingredients
There's a bit of prep work here in terms of dicing and mincing. I used three separate containers. For the papaya, de-seed and peel. Reserve approximately 1/2 cup-ful for garnishing (these are 1/2" dices). For the rest, dice into approximately 1 inch pieces and add to a large container with the orange juice. Mince and add pepper (use gloves to avoid getting burned!). Into another container, add minced shallot. Into a third, you should peel and dice your avocado and cucumber. This is also where the reserved papaya goes.

Step 3: Finishing
Blend papaya/pepper/OJ mixture well. Into this, add broth, juice, and shallots. After being mixed well, chill for a few hours before serving. Ladle into shallow bowls and garnish with avocado/cucumber/papaya pieces, cilantro, and freshly ground black pepper.

This week's Test Kitchen ingredient: nopal
"Nopales (from the Nahuatl word nohpalli for the pads) are a vegetable made from the young cladode (pad) segments of prickly pear, carefully peeled to remove the spines. These fleshy pads are flat and about hand-sized. They can be purple or green. They are particularly common in their native Mexico, where the plant is eaten commonly and regularly forms part of a variety of Mexican cuisine dishes." [Wikipedia]

Yikes. This is definitely a challenge. Let me know of any thoughts you've got of what I should do with this or what you'd like to see a recipe for. Comment on the picture on Facebook when it goes up later today!