The French and Their Food : A Glorious French Soup

My major unhappiness in traveling to France for my foster daughter’s wedding was that I could not cook for the family. Instead, I offered to provide the food for a picnic on the train from Paris to Avignon.

I purchased it at Fauchon, the world-famous Paris gourmet carry-out. Nothing is sold there that is not in its moment of perfection. The cheese is perfectly ripe for eating that day, the fruit is lush, the pates and terrines that line its windows are exquisitely beautiful as well as delicious. It is one of the treats I give myself each time I go to France, and I never tire of it.

There were seven of us to feed, including the bridal couple. Grandmother Esther, who had run safaris in Africa when she was 18, favored marquise pate , sliver-thin slices of ham layered with rich goose liver foie gras.

My Audrey loved the walnut bread from Poilane that Fauchon sells in huge, thick slices. I loved the rabbit pate . Audrey’s new mother-in-law Jozette praised the desserts, particularly the pate sucree with an almond frangipane topped with wild strawberries.

When we arrived in Avignon, I felt that I had represented Audrey’s side of the family well by bringing such a fashionable picnic. But I hadn’t reckoned on Jozette’s Pistou Soup.

It was waiting to greet us at the country house--a glorious soup. The food on the train was delicate and extraordinary, but Jozette’s soup will live in my mind forever.

It’s good to know Audrey has married into a family in which food is so important and so good. It makes me feel the marriage will make it, because where there is a reverence for food there is a reverence for life and living, and everything else falls into place.

PISTOU SOUP

2 tablespoons butter

1 cup chopped onion

White part of 1 leek or green onion, sliced

1 cup 2-inch cut green beans

1 cup shelled butter or small lima beans

1 cup 2-inch cubed peeled potatoes

1 1/2 cups chopped peeled tomatoes or 1 cup canned tomatoes, broken up

8 cups chicken stock

1/2 cup vermicelli, spaghetti or small pasta, broken into 1-inch pieces

Salt

Freshly ground pepper

2 tablespoons tomato puree

1/4 cup olive or salad oil

2 cloves garlic, very finely chopped

2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried

1 cup grated imported Parmesan cheese

Melt butter in skillet over medium heat. Saute onion and leek until tender. Add green beans, butter beans, potatoes, tomatoes and liquid and chicken stock. Cover and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes. Add pasta and cook 15 minutes longer or until vegetables are tender. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Place tomato puree in bowl and whisk in oil, drop by drop. Add garlic, basil and thyme. Stir mixture into soup. (Soup may be made to this point several days in advance, frozen and reheated.) Sprinkle with grated cheese at serving. Makes 3 1/2 quarts.