Soup & Bread 2/13/13: Love, Lust, and Hate

It’s been a blast so far this year to watch Soup & Bread cooks take on our ridiculous theme challenges. The results have been creative, curious, and on the whole, delicious. But this week, in particular, really garnished my bowl, when our seven cooks produced seven inspired pots of soulful soup on the theme of Love, Lust, and Hate.

Pictured above is Ashley Simone’s vibrant vegetarian “My Heart Beets for You,” complete with tangy creme fraiche detail. Ashley (of the web cooking series Foodgasm) and her mother, Etta Worthington, also produced a hearty pot of kale, tomato, and chickpea stew they dubbed, of course, “Stewed Desire.” Laced with pepper, it was designed (says Ashley) to excite the passions of vegans everywhere.

Next to Ashley and Etta was Soup & Bread newbie Lisa Chalem and and a friend (whose name eludes me), with an excellent “Under the Tuscan Sun” ribollita they learned to make in an Italian cooking class at the Chopping Block. And next to THEM were Christine Cikowski, Josh Kulp, and their crew from Sunday Dinner Club, Soup & Bread vets all.

“I can’t really call this “Love Bunny Soup, can I?” queried Christine before things got going. But, why the hell not? Their smoky, creamy rabbit and bacon soup (above) was perfectly balanced and blessedly light, made with Gunthorp Farm rabbit, Butcher & Larder bacon, and loaded with fresh tarragon. “We didn’t want to do something bitter and resentful,” she said. “We wanted it to be fluffy and cozy and fun. Also, bunnies are delicious. As is bacon. There’s some meatiness in our love.” Their new restaurant, Honey Butter Fried Chicken, should open early this summer in the old La Finca space at Elston and Belmont.

At the other end of this (estrogen-rich) table, were Maria Wilson, with a German goulash soup she’d invented herself, inspired by the bright red of the German goulash served annually at the downtown Kristkindlmarket. After much research, and some trial-and-error with making stock, the dish she came up with was rich and spicy, full of shredded beef and begging to for a thick hunk of crusty bread as its mate. Next to her, Laurie Frevogel served up a hearty African sweet potato stew that, she said had a vibrant reddish glow and a lot of heat in smaller batches, but — like love over time? — became more easygoing, in both hue and flavor, in larger quantities.

Last but not least, Helen Tsatsos and Kim Lutz (of Welcoming Kitchen) tried to incorporate all three elements of our theme in their “Love Conquers All Tomato Soup,” (in the penguin, above).  The tomatoes, they explained, are the love  — or “love apples” in this case. The coconut milk, exotic and sensual, brings the lust. And the surprise addition of marmite adds just enough hate to keep things interesting. All together, they said, “It’s complex. Like love. An illustration, in soup format, of how you can hate the ones you love and, of course, lust after the ones you hate.”

Poetry!

Helen also brought an enormous tray of cookies baked for us by Chris Munns, the principal at Sauganash Elementary School. Thank you Ms. Munns! And we had, as ever, amazing fresh bread from PQM and La Farine. Couple all that with a fantastic set by DJs Gwen and Jeremy Lemos that ran the gamut from Heart to the Buzzcocks, and $485 raised for Common Pantry and it was, I am not embarassed to say, a full-on love fest.

Coming up next week:  Our theme is “All Things Cow-nsidered” …. which means cheese, butter, cream, and all kinds of beefy goodness. Our cooks are Kim Bellware, Perry Kim, John McKevitt, Mark Smrecek, Bonnie Tawse, Rich Kinczyk, and the cheesemongers of Bridgeport’s Great American Cheese Collection. Bread donated by Publican Quality Meats and La Farine Bakery. Our DJ is Bloodshot Records‘ Scott Schaefer; pay what you can donations benefit the Central City Housing Ventures food pantry.