I have been watching his new show "Fast Food, My Way" on PBS this week.  French food has a reputation for being time consuming and complicated.  He has been showing me other wise.  I am going to adapt things he has done.  He did an escalloped fresh tomato that is vegan and looked yummy.  He made it in about 5 minutes flat!

This soup he did today would be adaptable.  He took a can of white beans that had been somewhat rinsed and put them in the food processor with some stock (could be veggie stock of course) and whizzed up the bean and liquid.  He had sauteed onions and bacon, but we have wonderful bakun for vegans these days, then dumped in the bean stuff and heated it.  He added heavy cream, but we have just been talking about substitutes for that.  I am thinking silken tofu with a bit of sweetening and some salt for the cream.  So...

1 can of white beans
3/4 c of veggie stock
1/2 small onion
12 oz silken tofu
1 Tblsp cornstarch or arrowroot
olive oil
salt
pepper

Whirl the beans and stock in a food processor or blender until some are smooth and you have chunks and whole beans too.  Cook the onion (I'd let it sweat with a lid on it and get golden) in the olive oil.  Pour in the beans and heat.  Put the silken in the blender or processor (no need to clean it) and mix with the arrowroot or cornstarch (if you don't, the silken will separate with heat).  Blend till nice and smooth.  Add to the soup and adjust thickness with more stock, season with salt and pepper. 

And if you just want bean soup, skip the onion step and put in some vegan bakun bits instead.  Quick high protein winter soothing soup!