I love soup, especially a robust and hearty country-style soup thick with meat and vegetables, almost a stew. Served with good chewy French or Italian bread. Captured with the sophisticated "stand on kitchen chair, use on-camera flash" technique. VEGETABLE SOUP This is the hearty country recipe - if you want what my granddad called "city slicker soup", cut the meat and vegetables by 1/2 to get a brothier result. 3 pints of broth or stock (from cans, from base, or stew some bones from scratch - I used base, 2 chicken + 1 beef, for this batch) 1 additional pint of water, which will boil away during cooking 1 pound diced meat (beef, pork, chicken, turkey, ham, lamb, venison, whatever) 1 bay leaf 1/8 tsp black pepper, or to taste herbs, to taste (see below) 1 cup onions, chopped 2 cups carrots, sliced or diced 3 cups potatoes, diced 1/2 cup celery, chopped 2 cups cabbage, shredded or chopped Combine liquids, meat, bay leaf, pepper, and bring to boil in soup pot or dutch oven. Simmer until meat is cooked tender (time depends on meat selection - could be as little as one hour, or up to 4 hours if you have chosen nasty tough beef). Add herbs, onion, carrots, potatoes, celery, and bring to boil - simmer 40 min. Add cabbage and again bring to boil - simmer another 30 min. Herbs (I use dried herbs - Oldog doesn't do complicated) - for beef, I like to add 1 tsp basil - for turkey or chicken, 1 or 2 tsp parsley - for pork, 1/4 tsp each marjoram and thyme.

The French Room, which earned Gourmet magazine’s top ranking for the Dallas/Fort Worth region for three consecutive years, features a menu rich in fresh seasonal ingredients and a wine list that recently earned Wine Spectator’s Award of Excellence. Under the direction of Executive Chef Jason Weaver, The French Room has taken classic techniques and adapted them to ever-evolving American tastes. Guests of this rococo restaurant enjoy modern American cuisine prepared using classical French cooking techniques. Executive Chef Jason Weaver leads a culinary team of internationally trained chefs and cooks.