Free Southern Comfort by Allison Vines-Rushing

lid is tightly secured and covered with a towel to prevent the hot mixture from escaping.
    Once the soup is blended, stir in the crème fraîche and serve right away.

    Tomato Soup
    TOMATO SOUP
    S ERVES 6
    When the tomatoes lined up on your counter in the summer start to get too soft to slice, it’s time to make tomato soup. Use any variety or color of tomato that you have, as long as they are ripe and flavorful. While it is great served hot, this soup can also be served chilled, drizzled with yogurt, on a sultry summer day. Stash a pint of soup in the freezer for when it starts to get chilly and you need a partner for a grilled cheese sandwich.

    ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
    1 onion, thinly sliced
    10 cloves garlic, smashed
    ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
    Sprig of rosemary
    1 fresh bay leaf
    2½ pounds tomatoes, quartered
    1 tablespoon fine sea salt
    1 teaspoon sugar
    ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
    1 cup white wine
    6 cups vegetable stock
    In a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, red pepper flakes, rosemary, and bay leaf and cook for 3 minutes. Add the tomatoes, salt, sugar, and pepper and cook until the tomatoes start to break down, an additional 3 minutes. Add the white wine, bring the mixture to a simmer, and cook for 2 minutes. Add the stock, bring back to a simmer, decrease the heat to low, and cook for 30 minutes.
    Remove the herbs and puree the soup in a blender, in batches, until smooth. Before turning on the machine, be sure the lid is tightly secured and covered with a towel to prevent the hot mixture from escaping.
    Serve immediately.

    Black-Eyed Pea and Barley Broth
    BLACK-EYED PEA AND BARLEY BROTH
    S ERVES 4
    This vegan soup will entice even a meat lover with its richness of flavor. Creamy black-eyed peas and toothsome barley add substance to the umami broth of mushroom and soy. Button mushrooms or creminis are a fine substitute if shiitakes are hard to find.

    ½ cup (4 ounces) black-eyed peas, soaked overnight
    ½ cup barley
    2 tablespoons olive oil
    1 cup shiitake mushroom caps, sliced ¼ inch thick
    ¼ cup finely diced carrots
    ¼ cup finely diced shallots
    ¼ cup finely diced celery
    6 cups mushroom stock
    ¼ cup soy sauce
    2 teaspoons sea salt
    2 teaspoons coarsely ground black pepper
    1 cup thinly sliced green onions, white and green parts, for garnish
    In a small saucepan over high heat, bring 4 cups of water to a boil. Add the black-eyed peas and bring to a simmer. Cook, skimming off the scum that forms on the surface as needed, until tender, about 30 minutes. Strain the peas and reserve.
    In a small saucepan over high heat, bring 4 cups of water to a boil. Add the barley and bring to a simmer. Cook the barley until tender, about 20 minutes. Strain the cooked barley in a colander under cold water and rinse well. Reserve until needed.
    In a large saucepan over high heat, heat the olive oil to the smoking point. Add the sliced mushrooms and cook, stirring frequently, until they are nicely brown and fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the carrots, shallots, and celery and sauté for another minute. Add the stock, soy sauce, salt, pepper, peas, and barley and cook over a slow simmer to let the flavors develop, about 10 minutes.
    Finish the soup with the sliced green onions and serve.

VEGETABLES

    Creamed Collards
    Fricassee of Peas and Beans
    Sweet Potato–Truffle Gratin
    Yellow Squash Marmalade
    Roasted Okra with Chili Oil
    Butter-Glazed Green Cabbage
    Celery Root Puree
    Oyster–Swiss Chard Gratin with Country Bacon
    Sauté-Steamed Baby Bok Choy
    Turnips, Boulangerie Style

    G ENERATIONS ON BOTH SIDES of my family made their living by farming in central Mississippi and Louisiana. Some owned their land and others were sharecroppers. Cotton and soybeans were their money crops, and family gardens of vegetables and chickens fed the immediate family, kin, and close friends.
    I grew up in West Monroe, but spent a lot of time in Winnsboro, the rural North Louisiana town