Haute Soup

Tips for making simple recipes for soup look sophisticated:

1. Shave fresh Parmesan cheese with a vegetable peeler and use it as a garnish.

2. Drizzle a flavorful oil--Tuscan green olive oil, walnut oil--onto pureed soups.

3. Sprinkle with balsamic or aged wine vinegar from a cruet you pass at the table.

4. Add citrus zest (finely grated lemon or lime) to vegetable soups.

5. Pass fleur de sel and cracked pink peppercorns in small dishes with the soup.

6. Use shot glasses to serve soup as a passed hors d'oeuvre or present creamy soup in a demitasse cup as an elegant first course.

7. Offer black olive tapenade as a way to boost the flavor of a mild soup.