Mixed Vegetable Soups

Some of the world’s best soups are hearty peasant affairs replete with an abundance of vegetables and flavored with herbs and often meat, especially preserved meats, such as pancetta, prosciutto, or confit. Minestrone is the best-known Italian version, pistou is a French vegetable soup finished with a pestolike basil paste, and a garbure is vegetable soup from southwestern France, which contains plenty of duck or goose confit. There is an amazing similarity in how all these soups are made, with the same commonsense thread running through all the methods.