The theme for this week’s Soup & Bread may have been “minimalism” but that doesn’t mean the soups on hand lacked for style. From the Butcher and Larder‘s butchers’ broth — a flavor bomb that brought together lamb, beef, and chicken bones into one ridiculously aromatic pot — to Cedar Valley Farm’s classic chicken noodle, which Beth Osmund finished off by cooking egg noodles in on a portable electric burner right there on the stage, the soup line was downright flashy.
Beth rallied her fellow Slow Food Chicago board members to supply the rest of the soups, which included a perfectly simple tomato, a pure carrot-ginger, a hearty cauliflower, an essential Irish potato, and Cyndi Fecher’s delightfully cheesy Parmesan broth with kale and white beans. Even DJ Rob Miller got with the program, with a set heavy on instrumental tracks — though he left the Steve Reich at home. All in all, we raised $558 for the Chicago Lights Elan Davies Social Service Center at Fourth Presbyterian Church, and I’m going down for a visit next week to see how they plan to put it to use. We even had one crock left over, for the most minimalist soup of all.
Next week, we’re expecting some decidedly idiosyncratic soups, when our cooks step up to meet the challenge of “Mac vs. Cheese.” Molly Breslin is promising minestrone featuring noodles made from her own wheat; Chelsea Dare is planning a Wisconsin beer and cheese soup; and Inspiration Kitchens (our beneficiary next week) is cooking up a pimento cheese soup with crisp collards and black-eyed peas. As for the rest, it’s a surprise. Hot Doug will be in the house, so who knows what he may produce. Mac and cheese and alligator sausage soup?
Our DJ next week is Kenn Goodman (Pravda Records) and we’ll have bread from our regulars PQM and Crumb, as well as some homemade loaves from volunteer Anne Chipman. Pay-what-you-can-donations benefit Inspiration Kitchens. And if you can’t make it out on Wednesday, you’ll have another shot at Soup & Bread next Friday as part of the Hideout-curated “Love is Love” at the MCA. Surely it will have stopped snowing by then, right?
Posted: Friday Jan 31,2014 03:49 PM In Event Schedule, Soup WrapupSusbscribe to our awesome Blog Feed or Comments Feed