Twelve Months of Monastery Soups

Offer your guests a big bowl of warmth and comfort--stir up some homemade soup! Brother Victor-Antoine d'Avila-Latourrette, author of From a Monastery Kitchen, follows the months of the year with simple recipes using seasonal ingredients. The soup recipes are international as well--try some Polish Pearl Barley Soup in February and Traditional Austrian Cheese Soup in November. Brother Victor-Antoine recommends chilled soups in the summer for refreshment; June's creamy Chilled Carrot Soup features the zest of ginger and lemon, and the Cold Zucchini Soup in August is delightful with the recommended lemon basil. The simplicity of the recipes makes them suitable for beginning cooks, who will learn that a great variety of flavors can be produced just by changing the order in which the vegetables are sautéed or by using vegetable broth instead of beef bouillon. Twelve Months of Monastery Soups is a delicious introduction to the art of soup making. As Brother Victor-Antoine notes, "soup remains a faithful friend during all of life's occasions."