'Tis the season of garden bounty, and Isthmus food writers Marge Snyder and Suzanne Breckenridge respond to a reader's query for the Ovens of Brittany's zesty recipe for Garden Vegetable Soup. Kitchen manager Terese Allen provides the details.
Garden Vegetable Soup
2 oz. unsalted butter or olive oil
1/4 pound onion, diced
1/4 pound carrot, diced
1/4 pound celery, diced
1/4 pound broccoli, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 pound zucchini, chopped
1/4 pound green or red pepper, diced
2 tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
1/2 tablespoon dried basil
2 cups tomato sauce
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1-1/2 quarts vegetable stock or V-8 juice
3 dashes Tabasco
1 cup cooked noodles or rice (optional)
salt and pepper to taste
Chop or mince all vegetables as indicated. Melt butter or place oil in heavy pot. Add onions, carrots, celery and broccoli and sauté, stirring constantly, for about 4 minutes. Add garlic and sauté another minute. Add zucchini, green or red pepper, chopped tomatoes and basil and sauté 2 more minutes. Add tomato sauce, parsley and stock or V-8 juice; bring soup to boil. Reduce to simmer and cook until vegetables are "crisp-tender," about 10 to 15 minutes. Add Tabasco (and noodles or rice, if desired). Add salt and pepper to taste.
The Ovens of Brittany, which opened in 1971, was one of Madison's first great restaurants of the modern era and had several venues across the city. The last, in Shorewood Hills, closed in 2000. Terese Allen is now a food writer and is on leave from her Isthmus Local Flavor column through December.
