Roasted Potatoes With Lavender, Saveur Magazine

In late afternoons in high summer, the fields of Whidbey Lavender Farm on Washington State's Whidbey Island give off a purple radiance, and the breeze of Puget Sound lifts the floral scent toward the cedar forest. So it is no wonder that the women writing poetry and fiction in the cottages of the nearby Hedgebrook writers' retreat come to walk among the lavender when their day's work is finished. That is how I came, by way of a deer trail, to the fields planted by M.C. and Kay Kang. The couple started their first lavender field in 2005, after falling asleep in a bedroom scented with the just-picked blossoms at a friend's lavender farm in the mainland town of Sequim the previous year. Along with Sequim, Whidbey Island lies within a rain shadow, a lavender-friendly microclimate protected from too much precipitation by the Olympic Mountains. Most of the Kangs' plants are the fragrant Grosso variety, used for bath oils and perfumes, but they also grow several kinds of English lavender—sweet-smelling, low-camphor plants that are best for cooking.

Roasted Potatoes With Lavender

Potatoes take on a floral, earthy note when they're tossed with dried lavender before roasting. This Provencal-inspired recipe is adapted from one in Jerry Traunfeld'sThe Herbfarm Cookbook (Scribner, 2000). This recipe first appeared in SAVEUR Issue #140, along with Carolyn Forché's story Edible Color.

SERVES 6

INGREDIENTS

2 lb. baby Yukon Gold, fingerling, or tricolor potatoes, scrubbed
6 tbsp. olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
6 tbsp. unsalted butter
2 tbsp. dried lavender

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Heat oven to 400°. Toss potatoes, oil, and salt and pepper on a foil-lined baking sheet, and roast, tossing occasionally, until browned and tender, about 35 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, heat butter in a 1-qt. saucepan over medium-high heat; add lavender and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Pour over cooked potatoes and toss to combine; season with salt and pepper.

It was this culinary lavender that interested me as I stole beneath the rafters in the Kangs' cedar drying barn. Hedgebrook's chefs had befriended the Kangs and were making sorbet and salted cookies flecked with their blossoms, but I soon learned that English lavender has a long history in the kitchen. Native to the Mediterranean, lavender was, in all likelihood, brought to the British Isles in the second century by the Romans, who used it for washing and bathing, as well as for cooking and winemaking. A member of the mint family and a relative of thyme, it lends floral and herbal notes to dishes. Today, farmers in France send their lambs to graze among the blooms, and French grandmothers cut lavender from roadsides for their kitchens. I followed suit, adding blossoms to crème brûlée, threading shrimp onto sprigs for the grill, and tossing the sweet dried herb with potatoes for roasting.

Pretty-In-The-Pan Stuffed Patty Pan Squash, By Oh She Glows

Pretty-In-The-Pan Stuffed Patty Pan Squash

Try saying that 3 times fast!   

 

Needless to say today’s photo shoot was a bundle of cuteness! This is maybe one of my favourite recipes yet.

 

Thank you to those who kindly told me that this is Patty Pan Squash! It arrived in our CSA last week. Word on the street was that I should stuff the squash!

I decided, photographing Patty Pan Squash is the food equivalent to photographing puppies. It is just so fun.

I admit, I was a bit intimidated to cook with them. they are just so dainty and delicate, I didn’t want to ruin them.

The first thing I do with any new veggie is try it raw.

I sliced up a Patty Pan and dug in, skin and all. I was so surprised at the taste. I think I was expecting it to be bitter (with the skin) or really firm (like other squash), but I was delighted to find that it was very mild and very soft. It is very similar to zucchini in taste.

I threw one all chopped up in this salad I posted the other night. It was fabulous!

CSA garlic made an appearance…

 

Even though my tummy doesn’t like garlic too much, I just had to use some of this fresh CSA garlic in this dish. It would have been a crime not to. I think I also found a way to use garlic that doesn’t bother my stomach (I will tell you about that below).

As suggested by Susan, I lightly cooked the Patty Pan in a large pot with 1 inch of water for about 6-7 minutes. This just softens the squash a bit more and makes it very easy to scoop out the insides. I’m not sure this step is totally necessary though. I think it depends on how firm your PP squash is…

   

I found a zucchini to use up so I decided to stuff half of it and use the other half in the stuffing. It has been a long time since I made stuffed zucchini!

The stuffing included: 1 large green onion, 1 large carrot, 1/2 a zucchini + [garlic, vegetable bouillon, and creamy tomato infused Short Grain Brown Rice mixture] (below).

Onion, carrot, zucchini processed for 30 seconds…

The other part of the stuffing contained a garlic, vegetable bouillon, and creamy tomato infused Short Grain Brown Rice mixture. It is hands down the best rice I have tasted.

Short Grain Brown Rice is one of the most flavourful rice grains, it has a wonderful and addicting chewy and hearty texture, and it is a super healthy whole grain.

Pretty-in-the-Pan Stuffed Patty Pan Squash

If you can find some Patty Pan Squash you will love this dish, perfect for the summer months! It is extremely flavourful, has a great texture, and is very light. You will not feel loaded down after eating this meal! I purposely made it tonight because I am going for a run later and didn’t want to be weighed down.

Inspired by Susan’s PP Squash Stuffed with Cajun White Beans.

Ingredients:

• 10-11 Patty Pan Squash
• 1 zucchini (sliced in half with one half scooped out)
• 1 large carrot
• 1 large green onion stalk (or 1/2 sm. sweet onion will work)
• 1 cup short grain brown rice
• 2 cups (or a bit more if necessary) vegetable bouillon
• 1-2 garlic cloves, poked with a fork
• 3 tbsp (approx) tomato paste
• 1.5 tbsp Earth Balance (or margarine/butter of choice)
• Pinch or two of sea salt
• Freshly Ground black pepper
• Dried or fresh parsley, to garnish
• Freshly ground black pepper, to garnish

Directions: (Please don’t be intimidated by the long directions, I just wanted to be detailed! It was actually very easy and took under 45 minutes start to finish).

1) Take a medium sized pot and bring 2 cups of vegetable bouillon + sea salt + poked garlic cloves to a boil on high. Add 1 cup short grain brown rice and stir well, checking often. Add more bouillon if it gets too dry. After about 10 minutes reduce to medium heat. Cook for about 20-25 more minutes over medium heat. Check it often as it can burn easily. [By ‘infusing’ the garlic in the rice, I was able to add a bit of garlic flavour without actually having the raw garlic in the dish!].

2) While the rice is cooking, take a large pot and fill it with 1-2 inches of water and bring to a boil. Place patty pan squash in the pot and cook for about 7-8 minutes. Remove from heat, drain, and allow to cool.

3) While the above is cooking, prepare the stuffing. yes, you are a multi-tasking goddess for this recipe! Take the carrot, 1/2 a zucchini (plus insides from other half), and green onion and process in a food processor until fine.

4) In a small bowl, mix the sauce for the rice. Take the earth balance in a small bowl and heat until soft. Now mix in the tomato paste until smooth.

5) When the rice is done cooking remove garlic cloves, add the tomato paste + Earth Balance mixture, and stir very well. Taste. Add salt and black pepper if necessary. This rice + tomato mixture BLEW MY MIND. It tasted so good!!! Addicting.

6) Take your cooled squash and chop off the heads and remove the insides carefully with a spoon. Take the flesh that you remove and add it to the processed mixture of carrots, onion, and zucchini.

7) Take the processed mixture (carrots, zucchini, onion + squash insides) and dump it into the rice pot. Stir well and taste for any adjustments you need to make.

 Stuff the Patty Pan squash with your rice + veggie mixture. Take any remaining leftover rice mixture and scoop it onto the pan around the squash. Bake in the oven at 375F for about 20 minutes. Sprinkle with parsley, serve and enjoy!

Serves about 3.

This rice + tomato paste + Earth Balance + sea salt + fresh ground pepper mixture will blow your taste buds away. It is SO good it hurts.

 

If you are a cheese lover you could also sprinkle this with cheese before baking! Similar to what I did in this recipe with vegan cheese.

Cooking the rice in vegetable bouillon and garlic makes the rice. It gives it such a wonderful flavour before you even add the sauce!

Pretty in the (Patty) Pan!

After baking for 20 minutes at 375F…

Mmmmm. I don’t think I have ever been so excited to try a new dish!!!

So unbelievably cute.

Hat (head?) less!

I was happy to find that I didn’t need to skin the squash for it to taste wonderful. I loved every part of it.

 

Needless to say I LOVED this dish. I am so glad I took a leap of faith with this! I hope we get more Patty Pan Squash in this week’s CSA.

REDUX: "Columbus, Ohio, Food" by Michael Ruhlman

Columbus, Ohio, Food" by Michael Ruhlman

A year ago, I drove a couple hours south of Cleveland to a strip mall off Interstate 71 to film part of an episode of Bourdain’s “No Reservations” heartland episode, at a stellar Japanese restaurant called Kihachi (google map it, look at all the parking lots and new housing developments). During the meal Bourdain, I made an off-handed remark about how extraordinary to find a restaurant of this caliber in the heart of Applebee’s country.  That was it, that was all!  And it’s still how I still see it, namely that strip malls off interstates, miles from any actual metropolis, is, indeed, Applebee’s country.Regrettably, this episode of the show featured Columbus, Ohio, the state capital, home of OSU and the Buckeyes, and the good people of this heartland city, eager for the national spotlight to show themselves off, were a tad miffed that one of their own had seemed to directly disparage their city.  I had only been there once or twice before for book events, not food tours, so I did not mean to suggest that Columbuswas Applebees’ country, only that ex-urban interstate cloverleafs were. But that’s not how it came off.  Talk about a hornets nest, sheesh (here’s but one example, good to meet you nonetheless, Bethia!). I more or less covered my head with my arms to keep from getting clobbered and ran away.

But not for long. Aided by one of my oldest and dearest friends (a life long Buckeyes fan), a Columbus food mafia conspired to get me down there for a proper exploration (followed for all I knew by a tar and feathering).  Lured by the promise of 50-yard-line seats for the OSU-Penn State game, my friend convinced me and down we went for a 24-hour Columbus food binge, led by two lawyers, Steve Stover and Rich Terapak and one financial advisor, Jim Budros, all of the them food devotees, occasional culinary instructors, restaurant reviewers, and one of them, Mr. Budros, a principal of his financial firm, also firmly enmeshed in the food business as a co-owner of City Barbecue.

I’d been warned that we would need to be eating through the pain, something these gents seem to relish, and by the time we hit the massive buckwheat pancakes atSkillet Saturday morning, the pain was abundant.  But not from the food itself.  Skillet’s rib sticking breakfasts were stellar, neo-croque madames (my fave) and stinky cheese omelets, griddle cakes and sausage would hold us till the game later on that amazingly warm sunny November day.

We began the trip early the previous eating at the Los Gauchos food truck for tacos (pictured above)—and they would remain perhaps my favorite dish of the entire visit.  I love genuine tacos.  What followed  was a stop at Middle West Spirits, a new micro distilleryl working in vodka, of all things.  I was dubious, as vodka by federal definition should have no aroma or flavor.  But theirs did, but also, distilled at 195 proof remained vodka, so much so that the Gray Goose we tasted next to their OYO seemed by comparison better suited to a cotton ball on a flesh wound.

The coolest part what owners Brady Konya and Ryan Lang are doing is making this premium hooch from locally sourced soft red winter wheat.  Cooler still, they have used the same wheat to create a whiskey, which is the same stuff as the vodka, distilled at a different proof and aged in barrels.  But exact same grain.  Amazing stuff.

From there to local favorite Alana’s.  What my pal Lester and I loved about this place, beside the excellent chuck, was the retail wine case and $5 corkage fee.  Brilliant.

Next up, Basi Italia, chef-owned by the affable Johnny Dornback and his wife Trish Gentile, followed by Rigsby’s Kitchen, both superb.

The next morning up early for dry-cured sausages and pate, the breakfast of champions, at Thurn’s, a 125-year-old family business. Next on to Mr. Budros’s kids bakery and patisserie, Pistachia Vera. Spencer, who leads the kitchen, and his sister Anne have created a fabulous shop, that would more than hold its own in New York or Los Angeles. Spencer said he’d put his macaroons up against any in the country. I would only change that to add, brioche and croissant dough as well. I terms of technical accomplishment, this was the highlight, and situated as it is in the heart of the very cool neighborhood known as German Village, it was also a very pleasant spot simply to arrive at.

We followed Skillet with the North Market, a killer collection of shops, artisan bread, great cheese, and locally sourced meat, fresh spices, Jeni’s Ice Cream, fabulous stuff (and her vanilla-cranberry combines the efforts of four local businesses, including the OYO vodka, in which the cranberries soak), not to mention a grand of great prepared foods.

And we concluded the tour with pre-game Texas-style barbecue at City Barbecue.  Co-founder Jim Budros has created a great model for this kind of barbecue (not to mention incredibly succulent brisket).  Wish Cleveland had one!

I’m willing to say now that Columbus exceeds Cleveland as a worthy food destination. And what that means is that Ohio itself has become an awesome food state.

Thank you, Columbus food mafia for the tour and the game.  Go, Buckeyes!

Goes Well With Fish, NY Times

This Wine Goes Well With Fish

BRILLIANT ideas sometimes arise out of pure necessity. Consider Piero Lugano, 63, the suntanned artist-turned-wine-merchant who opened a shop called Bisson in this town on the Italian Riviera in 1978.

Not content merely to sell wine, he soon began making it. Ten years ago he decided to try producing sparkling wine from indigenous varieties grown in vineyards overlooking the Golfo Paradiso on the Mediterranean.

But he immediately encountered a problem: there was simply no space in his already cramped shop and winery to carry out the aging required to make a bottle-fermented sparkling wine in the classic method of Champagne. Then, as he recalled recently, “a light bulb went on in my head: I thought, why not put the wine under the sea?”

This might seem logical to someone like Mr. Lugano who has long struggled to reconcile his twin passions for vine and sea. To most everyone else, the idea of making wine underwater might seem a bit unusual.

But Mr. Lugano makes an interesting argument: “It’s better than even the best underground cellar, especially for sparkling wine. The temperature is perfect, there’s no light, the water prevents even the slightest bit of air from getting in, and the constant counterpressure keeps the bubbles bubbly. Moreover, the underwater currents act like a crib, gently rocking the bottles and keeping the lees moving through the wine.” (The lees refer to yeast particles.)

It’s quite a creative solution to a space problem. But Italy is infamous for its labyrinthine bureaucracy. And the place he wanted to put the wine happened to be in the tightly controlled waters of a national marine preserve, the Area Marina Protetta di Portofino. So the odds would seem overwhelmingly against such a project.

Undaunted, Mr. Lugano ran the idea by a friend-with-a-friend at the Agriculture Ministry in Rome. Much to his surprise, his friend called back a week later; not only was it possible, the ministry thought it was a very cool idea. The next and most crucial step was to approach the local authorities.

In the winter of 2008, Mr. Lugano pitched his idea to a group at the Area Marina Protetta di Portofino that included the director, Giorgio Fanciulli, and a number of scientific advisers from the University of Genoa. “My first reaction,” Dr. Fanciulli said recently, “was: ‘No way! Our job is to prevent people from putting things in these waters, not help them.’

“But when we discussed it in private, the young scientists were very excited. It would have zero impact on the fragile ecosystem and demonstrate our philosophy of a positive synergy between man and nature. We also thought it might promote our park and raise awareness of the need to protect our marine resources. I was convinced.”

The scientists did research to ensure no environmental impact and determine the ideal site to place the wine. On May 20, 2009, 6,500 bottles of wine from the 2008 vintage of Bianchetta and Vermentino grapes, made without adding sugar, in the traditional method known as pas dosè, were put in noncorrosive stainless-steel cages and lowered about 200 feet below the sea at a spot called Cala degli Inglesi.

That the project had come this far was an amazing accomplishment, but would it be successful? “It was a big risk,” Mr. Lugano said. “No one had done this before, so we really didn’t know what would happen.”

When they went to retrieve the wine 13 months later, they found the bottles intact but transformed. Far from having a negative impact on the underwater environment, it was the sea that had had an impact on the bottles.

“When we began tolift the cages,” Mr. Lugano said, “all kinds of sea creatures came rushing out. Some remained.” The bottles were covered with algae, seaweed and barnacles, all of it carefully cleaned, dried and preserved on the bottle in a plastic sheath. (Some even had oysters, shrimp and starfish attached to them.)

More important, when the first bottle of the wine (christened Abissi, meaning depths in Italian) was opened for a celebratory toast, Mr. Lugano was, as he put it, “quite pleased.”

It’s easy to see why. When first poured, the bubbles come rushing up to the surface of the glass like sea foam at high tide, but then quickly relax into a fine perlage. The color is pale golden-yellow with greenish reflections, while the aroma suggests caramelized lemon peel and dried flower petals with hints of baked apple and allspice. On the palate it is surprisingly soft, leading into ripe, almost sweet, white peach followed by bracing acidity and a dry mineral finish.

This winter, the second edition of Abissi, made from the 2009 vintage and brought up from the sea on July 2, 2011, will be available in America for the first time through Bisson’s importer, Neil Rosenthal. (It has not been determined how many bottles will come to the United States or what the price will be.)

Though bottle-fermented in the classic manner, Abissi should not be compared to Champagne. This is a typical Ligurian wine — lean, crisply acidic, minerally, almost salty — made of local varieties from vineyards conditioned by their proximity to the sea.

In fact, the earth where the vines grow was once under the sea. That this wine undergoes its crucial maturation under water brings the process full circle, giving the concept of terroir an even deeper, aqueous dimension.

Saint Marcellin, by David Leibovitz

 If you go to Lyon, you’ll find Saint Marcellin pretty much everywhere. It’s the best-known cheese from that region, and the user friendly-sized disks are inevitably piled high at each and every cheese shop you step in to. Locals bake them at home and slide the warm disks onto salads, and I’ve not been to a restaurant in that city that didn’t have Saint Marcellin on the menu doing double-duty as the cheese or the dessert course. Or both. At the outdoor market stands, you can see how popular they are with les Lyonnais. And if you don’t believe me, their presence is so pervasive that I once bought a ticket on the bus in Lyon and instead of change, the driver handed me a ripe Saint Marcellin instead.
Like kouign amann, and other things that aren’t from the Île-de-France (the region where Paris is) you often need to go to the source to get the best example. Down in the Rhône, one can find excellent little disks of Saint Marcellin piled up, wrapped and ready to go, at Les Halles in Lyon. That’s where I had the best Saint Marcellin of my life, one which made a table of French friends stop mid-bite and say, simply, “Wow.” Not “Friggin’ wow”, but just a “Wow” was good enough for me.

Because they hover around €3, I used to pick one up at the fromagerie since they’re an inexpensive way to add variety to a cheese platter. The ones I’d buy were decent, although I never heard anyone put a dab on their bread and say, “Good gosh David, that cheese is friggin’ amazing!” (Although I’m not sure “friggin” is a well-used word around here.)  

When I don’t have time to make the 2-hour train trip to Lyon for a 3-inch disk of cheese, in Paris, I head to Fromagerie Trotté, in the middle of the Marais. This tiny trou of a shop is so slender than two people couldn’t pass without one graciously stepping back and letting the other go first. (As if that’s going to ever happen in Paris.)

It’s small size means that they carry a very carefully-selection assortment of cheeses. The two men working there can be a tad gruff. Yet other times, they’re as friendly as can be. So don’t be put off. I actually got one of them to laugh. Once. 

Well, to be honest, it was more of a chuckle. But I savored the victory nonetheless.

Right by the door you’ll find a little ziggurat of Saint Marcellin cheeses piled up; some very ripe, pungent and moldy, others fresh, soft and dewy. I prefer mine between the two and point at the one I want. Sometimes they’re sold in little tins or crocks, because when especially ripe, the fatty goop can’t be contained by the fragile crust. When I get it home, I slide it out of the container and onto my plate. And we all know what that leads to…

Pascal Trotté
97 rue Saint Antoine (4th)
Tél: 01 48 87 55 37
Métro: Saint-Paul

Grilled Zucchini Rolls with herbed goat cheese

Grilled Zucchini Rolls with herbed goat cheese

There are times when a recipe falls into place so beautifully that you think some greater force must be at work. It is as though a translucent vision of Julia Child, adorned with wings and a halo, floated into my kitchen, laid the ingredients gently in my arms and with a beatific smile, uttered her immortal words, “Bon Appetit!” It could happen. Divine inspiration struck with the sudden appearance of a massive zucchini in my garden. I swear it was not there yesterday. The herbed goat cheese arrived on my doorstep just a few days ago, sent by the generous people at the Ile de France Cheese company. The kalamata olives? Well, olives of all types take up permanent residency in my fridge, regularly replenished as my salt-obsessed palate plows through container after container.

All that was left to do was grill the monstrous squash, mix together the tangy cheese and salty purple-black specimens, and incorporate it all into delectable little rolls. Serve a few of these as appetizers or for a light lunch, alongside a salad or bowl of soup. Heavenly.

Preheat grill to high heat.

Using 1 large zucchini or 3 small ones, slice a strip lengthwise from the zucchini to expose the inside of the vegetable. Discard or reserve for another use. Cut the 2 ends from the zucchini to make straight edges. Cut the zucchini lengthwise into 1/2-inch strips. If using a large zucchini, cut each of these strips in half crosswise. This won’t be necessary with small zucchini.

Brush both sides of the zucchini pieces liberally with olive oil. Season well with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Lay the zucchini pieces on the grill at a 45-degree angle (for more attractive grill marks). Cook until the zucchini is very tender, but not mushy, about 3 minutes per side, moving the pieces during cooking to ensure even browning.

Remove zucchini from the grill. Set a wire cooling rack on top of a bowl to give the cooling rack extra clearance from the counter. Drape the zucchini pieces on the rack to cool. This method will stop the zucchini from steaming will cooling.

Place 3 1/2 ounces herbed goat cheese in a medium bowl. Roughly chop 1 1/2 ounces pitted kalamata olives (about 7 to 8 olives) and stir into the goat cheese.

Spread a layer of the goat cheese mixture onto one side of each zucchini piece. Gently roll each piece of zucchini. Serve.

Easy Vegetable Soup Recipe: Soup au Pistou, House Beautiful

Easy Vegetable Soup Recipe: Soup au Pistou, House Beautiful
This recipe is a staple of Provençal cuisine. Purists will tell you that aged Gouda is imperative. The reason, according to one story, is that this soup was invented by Italian workers building the railway in the hills above Nice, who used the Dutch cheese because there was a lot of it in transit at the port.

Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 small fennel bulb, quartered, cored, and chopped

2 zucchini, chopped

8 oz. new potatoes, chopped

2 tomatoes, skinned, seeded, and chopped

2 quarts vegetable or chicken stock

1 sprig of thyme

2 cups canned cannellini beans, drained

2 cups canned kidney beans, drained

6 oz. green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces

2 oz. spaghetti, broken into pieces

1 2/3 cups finely grated cheese (aged Gouda or Parmesan)

Coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Pistou Ingredients

6 garlic cloves

Leaves from a small bunch of basil

6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan or casserole dish. Add the onion, fennel, and zucchini and cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes, until browned. Add the potatoes, tomatoes, stock, and thyme. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer gently for 15 minutes.

2. Add the cannellini and kidney beans and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes more. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Add the green beans and the spaghetti and cook for about 10 minutes more, until the pasta is tender. Cover and let stand. Ideally, the soup should rest for at least a few hours before serving, or make one day in advance and refrigerate. (Do not make the pistou until you are ready to serve; it is best fresh, and the basil and garlic should not be cooked.)

3. To make the pistou, put the garlic, basil, and oil in a small food processor and blend until well chopped. You can also make it using a mortar and pestle, starting with the garlic and finishing with the oil, added gradually. It is more authentic, but I've never been very good at this method.

4. To serve, heat the soup and pass round the pistou and cheese, to be stirred in to taste. The soup can also be served at room temperature.

Editor's Review and Tips for Preparation:

Being obedient to Laura Washburn's instructions, I tasted my soup after I simmered the beans. Oh dear. So...ordinary. Okay, toss in some sea salt, grind the pepper. Not much help. Still just your average vegetable soup — or, to be more precise, your average Provençal version of minestrone. Stir in the pistou and the cheese. Ah, oui, oui, voilà, c'est magnifique! Astonishing how this simple condiment (a pared-down French version of pesto, but more garlicky) can lift mundane ingredients to stellar heights. I was cautious with the first bowl — a little dollop will do — but downright profligate with the second. Combined with the nutty richness of the cheese, it gave the broth a heady fragrance and a full-bodied flavor that I couldn't get enough of. Washburn's soupe au pistou is a savory, wholesome, satisfying, one-pot revelation. —Barbara King