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08/13/2001 Archived Entry: "Nika Hazelton's Garden Vegetable Soup"

Nika Hazelton died on April 15, 1992. She almost made it to 84 and almost to the end she had an indomitably youthful spirit. Her legacy of 24 cookbooks and innumerable magazine stories and columns will certainly keep her memory alive for a long time to come. For me, all I need do is prepare this soup to recall our good times together – many foreign food trips, "family" meals, and her famous and sometimes quirky dinner parties.

For instance, a birthday dinner she gave for William Buckley, Jr, her friend and editor at the National Review, where she was the food columnist for many years, has been written about many times: Because Bill loves asparagus, Nika made only huge platters of asparagus with several sauces, then served consommé to clear our palates before a sumptuous dessert. Then there was the all-dessert dinner where she served nothing but desserts for someone, I forget who, who had an insatiable sweet tooth, and for dessert, meaning the last course, she served soup.

It was not this soup, which, even without it's nostalgia value, would be one of my favorite deep-summer dishes. It tastes like the essence of the season because it is made in a most peculiar way: The vegetables cook only in their own rendered juices. No broth or water is added. That is why you must follow the cooking directions exactly, and why you must expect a thick vegetable stew more than a soup.

For many years, Nika and her husband, Harold Hazelton (the sainted Harold, we always said, because Nika could be very impossible) spent summers in Cortona, Italy, which is Tuscany. I think this is a recipe she picked up there.

Nika Hazelton's
Garden Vegetable Soup

Makes about 3 quarts, serving about 6

This recipe was published in my book, Soup Suppers: More than 100 main-course soups and 40 accompaniments.

2 large tomatoes, peeled and diced
2 medium onions, thinly sliced
1 to 3 cloves garlic, minced
2 large zucchini, sliced 1/4-inch thick
1 medium head romaine lettuce, finely shredded
2 pounds fresh peas, shelled, or 1 10-ounce box frozen peas
1 cup finely chopped parsley
2 tablespoons finely chopped basil
2 pounds fresh fava beans, shelled, or 1 10-ounce box frozen lima beans
1/3 to 1/2 cup full-flavored extra-virgin olive oil
Salt to taste (1 teaspoon should do to start)
Freshly ground pepper (a generous 1/2 teaspoon to start, then serve the soup with a peppermill to add more at the table)
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Spread the tomatoes over the bottom of a 5 to 6-quart pot.

Top the tomatoes with a layer of onions.

Sprinkle with garlic.

Add a layer of zucchini.

Top the zucchini with the lettuce.

Top the lettuce with the peas.

Sprinkle half the parsley and all the basil over the peas.

Add the beans.

Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup parsley over the vegetables.

Drizzle the olive oil over everything.

Cook, covered, over low to medium heat for 20 minutes, or until the vegetables start releasing their liquid. Do not remove the cover for at least 10 minutes.

At this point, add salt and pepper to taste, reduce the heat to low, stir and mix vegetables well. Cook, over low heat, covered, for about 20 to 30 minutes, stirring frequently, until vegetables are tender but not mushy; do not overcook. Do not add water; the vegetables have enough water of their own.

Serve hot, lukewarm or at room temperature. Pass the grated cheese separately.