From the Juicer: Spicy Red Juice

Editor's note: We're sharing a new juice or smoothie recipe every weekday in January. Got a favorite juice or smoothie combo? Tell us about it in the comments section! Looking for more smoothie and juice ideas? Start here...

This combination of red bell pepper, carrot and tomato juices with a punch of heat from fresh horseradish is spicy and refreshing. [Photograph: Lauren Rothman]

When drinks maven Maggie asked me late last year if I'd be interested in thinking up some juice recipes for the site, I was pumped: I'd often considered buying a juicer, but had always found some reason or another not to (the price, the space the machine would take up in my tiny New York kitchen). But here was my excuse to finally take the plunge, and ever since I since I brought my juicer home, it's been a non-stop juice-a-thon around these parts.

I began where most beginning juicers do, with minor variations on the carrot-beet-apple-ginger theme: this sweet, pink-blushed blend is my go-to juice order at juice bars, and it's super easy to whip up at home. But when I started to think about a more savory slant to juicing, I used a favorite summer soup as my jumping-off point.

I've always been obsessed with gazpacho, that dead-simple Spanish chilled soup of blended tomato, onion, and pepper, thickened with a little bread and a lot of good fruity olive oil. And I thought that by toning down its savoriness and amping up its natural sweetness, I could make a damn fine juice.

Boy, was I right. This combination of sweet red bell pepper, carrot, and tomato juices with a punch of heat from fresh horseradish and garlic is a supremely balanced drink, its flavors refreshing and hinting towards that delicious soup. This juice makes an invigorating breakfast—and, though I haven't yet tried it, I strongly suspect that a glug of cold vodka or gin would transform it into an ideal brunchtime quaff. So next time my friends come by for weekend bacon and eggs, I'll put away the beets and apples and blend up a pitcher of Spicy Red.