Parsley and Gin Soup

This soup, a thick greenish mush, is both cooler and inflamer – best eaten in very small portions on hot, humid days by the pool. Behind the cocktail-belt, pan-American touches of canned tomato juice and gin, is a base of onion, celery and green pepper, which Louisiana-born chef Beany Macgregor calls the ‘holy trinity’ of Creole and Cajun cooking. They give a distinctive, slightly bitter, metallic tone to all the area’s most famous dishes, from gumbo to jambalaya. The recip