Vegetable Soups from Deborah Madison's Kitchen

Deborah Madison is an herbivore's hero. Her Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone received a James Beard Award as well as a Julia Child Cookbook of the Year Award from the International Association of Culinary Professionals. Her latest volume includes a beef-stock-free onion concoction for vegetarians who miss the classic French soup (hers uses "masses of red onions and red wine [to]yield a robust soup"), a bisque that finds good use for gnarly Jerusalem artichokes, and a Senegalese-style peanut soup that calls for organic peanut butter. (Madison says she's a "devoted make-it-from-scratch kind of cook," but it's "great to have a few soups in your repertoire that go together as easily as this one does.") Also included is some no-nonsense advice on just what makes fantastic soups fantastic, serving and wine suggestions, and some basic stock recipes. Being of the make-it-from-scratch camp, most of Madison's recipes call for the stocks she discusses in the beginning of the book—but being no-nonsense and reasonable, she allows for easy substitutions, too.

Deborah Madison will be the keynote speaker at the Farmer-Chef Connection summit on Monday, Feb. 6, at the UW Center for Urban Horticulture. Visit www.farmerchefconnection.org for more information.