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Whether it's a bisque, a consomm or some fancy-pants potage, there's just something about soup that warms both body and centre.
Sure, there's a certain charm to those soups from childhood, with their alphabet or noodle stars floating in a sea of no-nonsense-from-the-can broth. But for grown-ups, living in the land of gorgeous seasonal fabricate and other lovely ingredients?
It's high time, Kate McMillan says, to certify some interesting soup of your own. And it's just a matter of creativity. Blend kumquats with carrots and dust them with toasted fennel, for eg. Top a lush black bean soup with Meyer lemon creme fraiche.
And wealthiest of all, by plumping a soup with seasonal flavor, it's easy enough to make a homey, comforting bowlful that dazzles the soup buds and nourishes the soul without fattening the waistline.
You may think you skilled in soup, but we're betting McMillan, a Bay Area caterer and Tante Marie cooking scholastic, has got you beat. The newest addition to the Williams-Sonoma library is McMillan's "Soup of the Day: 365 Recipes for Every Day of the Year" (Weldon Owen, 304 pages, $34.95).
Source: San Jose Mercury News