Recipe: Grilled Vegetable Soup

GRILLED VEGETABLE SOUP
Source: Splendid Soups: Recipes and Master Techniques for Making the World's Best Soups by James Peterson
Makes 3 quarts (8 moderate servings)

I always include grilled vegetables as part of my many summer barbecues, partly because I'm lazy - I can cook everything outside and don't have to clean the kitchen - but mostly because I love the gently smoky flavor of grilled foods. One evening last summer I grilled too many vegetables, and the next day I converted the leftovers into a soup.

Like so many vegetable soups, you're best off improvising this one, using the best-looking vegetables in the markets or homegrown ones. It's hard to go wrong with grilled vegetables, but there are a couple of tricks for getting the best flavor from your fire.

Don't let any flame touch the vegetables, or they'll be covered with soot, which will end up in the soup. Avoid puffing too much oil on the vegetables, or it will drip into the coals and cause the fire to flare up. Whatever you do, don't cover the grill or your vegetables will be covered with a fine layer of soot.

During the last decade a great deal of fuss has been made over exotic woods for grilling. Mesquite wood, fruit woods, and vine cuttings all impart a delicious flavor to grilled foods, but I hate to see people paying as much for wood as they should for vegetables. The best way to use exotic woods is to build a fire with something cheap - like charcoal briquettes - and wait for the flame to die down. Then add a few wood chips, soaked in water first so they smolder arid make a lot of flavorful smoke, and then put on the vegetables.

FOR THE GRILLED VEGETABLES:
1 large Bermuda or other sweet onion. peeled and sliced lengthwise 1/2-inch thick
1 fennel bulb, cut into 10 wedges
12 medium-size mushrooms, threaded on a skewer
2 small eggplants, preferably Chinese or Japanese, peeled and cut lengthwise into 1/4-inch-thick strips, about 12 ounces
1 zucchini, cut lengthwise into 1/4-inch-thick strips
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon freshly chopped or dried herbs such as thyme, marjoram, or oregano
FOR THE SOUP:
1 garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped
1 1/2 pounds tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped, about 4 medium-size
6 cups chicken or vegetable broth or water
1 large bunch of fresh basil, stems removed, about 1 tightly packed cup leaves
salt
pepper
slices of French bread toasted or grilled

GRILL THE VEGETABLES:
Lightly brush all the vegetables - except the garlic and tomatoes - with all but a tablespoon of the olive oil and sprinkle them with the chopped herbs.

Grill the vegetables over hot wood coals (about 8 inches from the coals, but adjust it if need be) until they soften and have light brown grill marks on each side, usually in about 10 minutes. You may have to work in stages, taking the vegetables off the grill one by one as they are ready.

Finely chop the grilled onions, coarsely chop the grilled fennel wedges slice the mushrooms and cut the eggplant and zucchini into 1/2-inch dice.

PREPARE THE SOUP:
In a 4-quart pot, combine the grilled vegetables, garlic, tomatoes, and the broth. Bring to a simmer and simmer slowly for about 8 minutes.

Finely chop the basil leaves with a tablespoon of olive oil (the oil prevents the basil from turning black).

When the vegetables are done, push a few against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon to see if they crush easily. Whisk in the chopped basil, season with salt and pepper and serve immediately.

SUGGESTIONS AND VARIATIONS:
You may also want to whisk some saffron and garlic mayonnaise into this soup, which will work wonders with the basil. Pass extra mayonnaise at the table.

One refinement is to sprinkle each vegetable with a different herb. It's unlikely that anyone will notice this (at least consciously), but the result is that the soup keeps changing flavor while it's being eaten, so its flavor never grows tiresome.

GRILLING BONUS:
I sometimes use the extra heat of still hot coals to grill extra vegetables, which I marinate in a little olive oil and vinegar and then use in salads or as antipasti during the week. Mushrooms, strips of zucchini, and sliced onions are particularly good.