Soup with Style

It is so easy to serve soup with a sense of great style, turning the simplest preparation into something truly special. At times we like to place an elegant soup in a magnificent crystal or glass bowl. Other times we use a rustic, spectacularly colored country crock. Look around for dishes with great rims, unusual shapes, those that are clear and let you see to the bottom, and those that sparkle. Sometimes we like to make a very simple soup very grand in a shallow bowl with a broad, bold rim. Sometimes we don’t use classic bowls at all, but substitute hollowed-out vegetables such as peppers, squash, or pumpkins—whatever tickles our fancy.