Mission: Cook! by Robert Irvine

ceremonies, testimonials—all are inevitably accompanied by food. Practically every romance starts with an invitation to lunch, dinner, or coffee. If you want to understand a country or a people, take a look at how they dine with one another. The great Jackie Mason once said, “When a Gentile says ‘let’s get coffee,’ he wants a drink. When a Jew says ‘coffee,’ he means ‘cake’!” The immortal Brillat-Savarin famously said, “Show me what you eat and I’ll show you what you are.”
    Food has the power to bring us together with our friends, families, loved ones, and business associates, even across cultures and nationalities. What gesture is more universally acknowledged and gratefully accepted than that of sharing a meal with another human being? How much conflict might be avoided in the world if everybody simply had enough good food to eat? Where there is plenty, there is peace.
Provençal Vegetable Soup
SERVES 6 TO 8
    FOR THE PISTOU
    1 or 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
    Â½ cup (packed) basil leaves
    4 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
    4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
    FOR THE SOUP
    1½ cups fresh fava beans, shelled, or 3 / 4 cup dried navy beans, soaked overnight
    Â½ cup dried herbes de Provence
    2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
    1 tablespoon olive oil
    1 onion, finely chopped
    2 small leeks or 1 large leek, finely sliced
    1 celery stalk, finely sliced
    2 carrots, finely diced
    2 small potatoes, finely diced
    4 ounces green beans
    5 cups water
    Salt and freshly ground black pepper
    2 small zucchini, finely chopped
    3 medium tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and finely chopped
    1 cup shelled garden peas, fresh or frozen
    A handful of spinach leaves, cut into thin ribbons
    Sprigs of fresh basil to garnish
    Freshly grated Parmesan cheese
    There is an old chestnut that makes a wry comment on the legendary Italian hospitality at the table and the habit of unannounced visitors and relatives it engenders right around suppertime. Mamma is in the kitchen stirring up the soup for dinner and Pappa looks out the window and sees his in-laws coming up the walk. He turns and shouts to the kitchen, “Mamma, you better add some-a water to the soup!”
    This is a delicious, healthy, and bounteous soup, and it is easy to double the recipe for unannounced guests.
    A Note on Pistou “Pistou” sounds like, but is different from, “peace too.” (Although some peace would be nice, too.) It is a basil-garlic condiment.
    To make the pistou, put the garlic, basil, and Parmesan cheese in a food processor and process until smooth, scraping down the sides once. With the machine running, slowly add the olive oil through the feed tube. Or, alternatively, pound the garlic, basil, and cheese using a mortar and pestle and stir in the oil.
    To make the soup, if using dried navy beans, place them in a saucepan and cover with water. Boil vigorously for 10 minutes and drain. Place the parboiled navy beans (or fresh fava beans, if using) in a saucepan with the herbes de Provence and one of the garlic cloves. Add water to cover by 1 inch. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer over medium-low heat until tender, about 10 minutes for fresh beans and about 1 hour for dried beans. Set aside in the cooking liquid.
    Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan and add the onion and leeks. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onion just softens. Add the celery, carrots, and the other garlic clove and cook, covered, for 10 minutes, stirring.
    Add the potatoes, green beans, and water, then season lightly with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, skimming any foam that rises to the surface, then reduce the heat, cover, and simmer gently for 10 minutes.
    Add the zucchini, tomatoes, and peas, together with the reserved beans and their cooking liquid, and simmer for 25 to 30 minutes, or until all the vegetables are tender. Add the spinach and simmer for 5 minutes. Season the