Held outdoors, rain or shine, every Wednesday and Saturday from May to November (and indoors, on Saturdays, in winter), the market draws the most crowds on summer Saturdays when vendors set up about 160 booths around four long blocks surrounding Wisconsin’s majestic State Capital building.

If it were made for a movie, the Madison market couldn’t be more perfect.

Locals show up when the market opens at 6 a.m., chefs come around 7 a.m., tourists join the crowd at 10 a.m. and students drag themselves out of bed getting to the market about an hour before it closes at 2 p.m. The array creates a charming cast of thousands who stroll counterclockwise around the booths, interacting as if they were attending one big happy neighborhood party. Street musicians, laughing children and picnickers lounging on the capital’s green grounds add to the Midwest dream scene, but it is the vendors and their products that play starring roles.

Wisconsin farmers man the booths selling their own homegrown seasonal produce and farm-related products (flowers, cheese, honey, maple syrup, jams, breads, etc.).  Although everything for sale is of such high quality as to make one want to move to Madison and become a dedicated locavore, in mid-summer, particularly rave reviews go to the pick of the peak produce: tomatoes, cucumbers and green peppers.

TWO BLOCKBUSTER WAYS TO USE THE BOUNTY

GAZPACHO

Yield: 6 servings.

2 large ripe tomatoes, trimmed and cut into large chunks

4 cups tomato juice

1 large cucumber, peeled, seeded and cut into large chunks

1 large green pepper, trimmed and cut into large chunks

1 small onion, peeled and quartered

1 large clove garlic, peeled and put through a press

2 to 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 to 3 tablespoons red or white wine vinegar

Celery salt

Salt

Pepper

Ground cumin (optional)

Croutons, for serving

Working in small batches, put tomatoes in the jar of a blender. Add a little tomato juice and blend until finely chopped, but not pureed. Transfer blended mixture to a large bowl. Repeat blending with cucumber, green pepper and onion. Add any remaining tomato juice, garlic, oil and vinegar to blended mixture in bowl. Sprinkle lightly with celery salt, salt and pepper. Add a little cumin if desired. Stir and taste. Correct seasoning. Refrigerate in a covered container until you are ready to serve. Serve chilled soup with croutons.

GREEK SALAD

Yield: 6 servings.

4 large ripe tomatoes

2 slender cucumbers

2 green peppers

4 scallions

About 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

About 1/3 cup pitted kalamata olives

1-1/2 teaspoons dried oregano

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 large clove garlic, peeled

Trim tomatoes and cut into bite-size chunks.

Trim ends from cucumbers. (If the cucumber skin is tough, peel it. Young slender cucumbers do not need peeling.) Halve cucumbers and remove seeds. Cut cucumbers into bite-size chunks.

Trim peppers and cut into bite-size chunks.

Trim scallions and cut white part into 1/4-inch pieces.

Put all cut vegetables in a large bowl.

Add feta and olives. Sprinkle with oregano. Toss lightly.

Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Meanwhile make dressing: Combine olive oil, lemon juice and salt in a small jar. Cut garlic into slivers and add. Set dressing aside until ready to serve.

Just before serving, remove garlic and pour dressing over vegetables. Toss lightly.

Serve.

FRENCH ONION SOUP

Yield: 4 serving.

4 large yellow onions

2 large red onions

2 shallots

1 leek

4 tablespoons butter

Salt

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1-1/2 teaspoons dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon paprika

Big pinch allspice

1/4 cup Cognac

About 7 cups good rich beef broth

1 bay leaf

Coarsely ground black pepper

Peel onions. Halve onions, lengthwise, and then cut, crosswise, into thin slices.

Peel shallots and cut into thin slices.

Trim root end and top green part off leek. Halve white portion, lengthwise, and then cut, crosswise, into thin slices.

Melt butter in a large soup pot. Add sliced onions, shallots and leek; with two large spoons, toss onion mixture to coat with butter.

Cook over moderate heat, tossing often, until onions begin to soften, about 15 minutes. Sprinkle with salt and sugar. Continue cooking, tossing occasionally in the beginning and more as onions start to brown, until onions caramelize and turn rich golden brown, about 1 hour.

Sprinkle thyme, paprika and allspice over onions and stir. Cook, stirring, 1 minute.

Pour Cognac over onions and boil until liquid almost disappears.

Add broth and bay leaf; stir gently.

Gently simmer soup until flavors are well developed, 1 to 1-1/2 hours (add a little water or more broth if liquid reduces too much).

Season to taste with salt and pepper. Remove bay leaf.

If not serving immediately, cool soup at room temperature, and then refrigerate in a covered container.

ONION SOUP GRATINÉED

Yield: 4 servings.

1 recipe French Onion Soup

4 to 8 toasted rounds of French baguette (recipe follows)

4 to 6 ounces shredded Gruyère cheese

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Set four individual ovenproof soup bowls or crocks on a baking sheet.

If the soup is cold reheat it. Pour hot soup into each bowl, giving each an equal amount. Top soup with one or two toast rounds (do not layer or overlap the rounds). Cover top of soup in each bowl with a generous layer of shredded cheese.

Set baking sheet in oven and bake until cheese melts and soup is bubbly around the edges, 10 to 15 minutes.

Serve immediately.

TOASTED BAGUETTE ROUNDS

Good crusty French baguette

Olive oil

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Slice baguette into rounds about 3/4-inch thick.

Brush both sides of each round with a little olive oil.  Set rounds in one layer on a baking sheet.

Place baking sheet in oven and bake, turning once, until rounds are dry, crisp and golden brown, 20 to 30 minutes.

Both:

French-connected,

white and creamy,

luxuriously rich

and

beautifully versatile (can be served hot or cold, summer or winter, with any number of garnishes changing the flavor).

I developed the Cream of Brie Soup for Food and Wines from France to serve at a convention. The organization wanted a dish that would showcase the rich, subtle flavor of Brie, yet have personality of its own and multiple uses. The soup was perfect, as garnishes contribute to flavor and change the nature of the dish, allowing it to enhance a variety of meals. I love to serve this soup at formal dinner parties garnished with seasonal fruits, and consider it sumptuous enough for Christmas brunch, especially if I can get my hands on white truffles for garnish.

Chef Rene Pianetti

The Cream of Bean Soup comes from Le Chef Coq Restaurant in Nuits-Saint-Georges, where Chef René Pianetti presides over the kitchen and serves food that is both contemporary and original. I found the soup on a summer luncheon menu disguised under the name “Gaspacho.”  The custard-smooth bean soup had nothing to do with gaspacho, except it was chilled, but it offered extraordinay flavor that was unique and distinquished. I like this soup best at casual seated dinners on chilly evenings and I sometimes serve it at Thanksgiving, garnishing with prosciutto, country ham, assorted grilled and diced sausages and even sautéed-slivered fennel, if smoked duck is not available.

TWO GREAT SOUPS

Each:

lusciously unique,

dramatically different

and

extravagantly delicious.

Bon Appétit!

CREAM OF BRIE SOUP

Yield: About 4 servings.

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 leek, trimmed and chopped (use white part only)

1 celery rib, trimmed and chopped

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

1 bay leaf

2 black peppercorns

Pinch ground cloves

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 cups chicken broth

1 cup whole milk

1 cup light cream

1/2 pound Brie, rind removed

Garnish suggestions:

Cognac

Crumbled Roquefort

Crumbled Roquefort and diced pears

Fresh berries (perfect for a chilled brunch soup)

Julienne strips of steamed root vegetables

Sautéed apples

Sauteed mushrooms

Shaved white truffles

Toasted nuts and brown sugar (a dessert garnish)

Melt butter in a 3-quart saucepan. Add leek, celery, thyme, bay, peppercorns and cloves; stir well. Cover pot and “steam” ingredients until they are soft, about 15 minutes.

Sprinkle flour over ingredients and stir until flour is absorbed. Cook, stirring, 1 minute. Stir in broth, milk and cream. Simmer 30 minutes. Cut Brie into chucks and stir into soup. Continue to simmer, stirring constantly, until Brie completely melts. Strain soup.

Serve immediately, garnished as desired. Or if serving chilled, cool soup at room temperature and refrigerate until well chilled. Serve chilled with appropriate garnish.

CREAM OF WHITE BEAN SOUP

Yield: About 4 servings.

2-1/2 cups dry white beans (about 1 pound 2 ounces)

Water

6 to 7 cups rich flavorful chicken broth

1 thick slice smoked bacon

1 carrot, peeled and halved

Several sprigs thyme

1 bay leaf

1 large garlic clove, peeled and halved

1 cup heavy cream

About 3/4 cup buttery croutons

Hazelnut oil (optional)

Garnish suggestions

Thin strips of smoked duck

Thin strips of prosciutto

Thin strips of country ham

Sautéed sausage, diced

Cover the beans with cold water and let soak overnight.

Drain beans and put in a 4-quart saucepan. Add chicken broth, bacon, carrot, thyme, bay leaf, garlic. Gently simmer the beans until they are tender, about 3 hours. Set aside until cool enough to handle. Drain beans reserving broth. Discard bacon, carrot, garlic, thyme and bay. Mash beans. Stir in cream and enough (2 to 3 cups) reserved broth to make a thick soup. Pass soup through a food mill or strainer.

Serve immediately, garnished with croutons, a drizzle of oil and duck, country ham, prosciutto or sausage. Or if serving chilled, cool soup at room temperature and refrigerate until well chilled. Serve chilled, garnished with croutons, a drizzle of oil and duck, country ham or prosciutto.

HARVEST VEGETABLE SOUP

3 large sweet potatoes, divided

3 carrots, peeled and trimmed

2 acorn squash, peeled and seeded

1 butternut squash, peeled and seeded

About 2 quarts chicken broth (or vegetable broth or water)

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

Hot-pepper sauce to taste

Salt to taste

1 to 2 cups cream, half and half, chicken broth or vegetable broth to thin soup

Garnish:

Sour cream or plain yogurt (full, low or no fat)

Sunflower seeds mixed with an equal amount of toasted pine nuts (Plan about 1 heaping tablespoon mix per serving.)

Pierce 2 sweet potatoes with the tines of a fork and bake in a 350°F degree until very tender, about  80 minutes. Set baked potatoes aside.

Peel remaining sweet potato. Cut potato, carrots and squash into large chunks and put in a soup pot. Add enough broth (or water) to just cover vegetables. Add nutmeg, a few dashes of hot-pepper sauce and salt. Bring mixture to a boil over high heat, immediately reduce heat, and boil very gently until vegetables are tender, about 25 minutes.

Remove skin from baked potatoes and add flesh to mixture in pot.

Set pot aside until mixture is cool enough to blend, then working with small batches, blend soup in a blender until smooth. Thin soup to desired consistency with cream or broth. Correct seasoning (at this point the soup may be cooled at room temperature and then refrigerated in a covered container).

Serve the soup chilled or reheat it and serve hot. Garnish each serving with a dollop of sour cream or yogurt and a sprinkling of sunflower seeds mixed with toasted pine nuts.

Yield: About 4 quarts.

PAPAROT

(Spinach and Polenta-Dumpling Soup)

1 pound fresh spinach

4 tablespoons butter

2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped

2 tablespoons plus 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, divided

6 cups chicken broth

2 eggs

1/2 cup polenta (or yellow corn meal)

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Salt to taste

Wash spinach and remove coarse stems. Finely chop spinach and set aside.

Melt butter in a large saucepan and set over medium heat. When butter is hot, add garlic and sauté until fragrant, but not brown, about 1 minute. Sprinkle 2 tablespoon flour over butter and stir until well blended. Cook flour/butter mixture 1 minute, stirring constantly. Gradually stir in broth. Add spinach and stir lightly. Simmer mixture 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Make dumplings: Beat eggs in medium mixing bowl until whites and yolks are well blended. Add polenta, cheese and remaining 1/4 cup flour and mix well. Break off pea-size pieces of dumpling mixture and drop into simmering soup. When all dumplings have been added, stir soup gently. Simmer until dumplings are set, about 10 minutes. Season as desired with salt.

Yield: 6 to 8  servings.