Soup Swap 2009: We ate, we drank, we swapped!

There's something about soup swap. When I was well into the fourth hour of making my Argentine Locro, checking the brisket and waiting for the meat to fall apart into tender tendrils of goodness, I felt a wave of warmth and pride. Preparing your soup for 'the Swap' is lke getting your child ready for the first day of school. There's a lot of work, nurturing and care leading up to the day you share your little creation and send them off into the world. I had a moment where I became conscious not only of the tradition we're starting but of the other swappers out there in their own kitchens doing the very same thing. It's a nice feeling.



(Above photos by Luis Gomez of One Photograph a Day)

This year we hosted the event at home which gave things a more cozy and intimate atmosphere. We enjoyed opening our door to relatives, old friends, new friends, work friends, and school friends. We had strong repeat performers from last time as well as some fresh new faces bubbling with enthusiasm. Some of our friends from the DC blogosphere were even there including Francoise and Matty. My friend professional photographer Luis was also there armed with his camera and posted great photos and a nice write-up on his site. Cindy also took photos for us, which we've compiled here in the first slideshow...

Our DC Soup Swap 2009 Slideshow



...and Joe captured some more cool pics including a glimpse inside our freezer packed with our winter stockpile of vodka and homemade soup! Wheee!

Joe's 2009 DC Soup Swap Photos



We did a few things differently this year. We were definitely more organized and because I'm a dork, I designed veggie, fish, and meat stickers to help distinguish soup types. Also, instead of declaring winners, everyone voted (via secret ballot) on two categories (Most Original Soup + Most Creative Packaging). We'd previously had folks pick numbers once which meant they were stuck with their lot for the duration. This time we had six rounds of numbers. That way if you picked last the first round you had a chance of picking a better number for another. I thought this might take too long since we had 17 soups, but it was pretty fast and efficient. Plus it just gave more people the chance to chat, drink and eat!




Yes, eating was a required activity for ALL guests because as usual we went overboard and leftovers are BAD for New Year resolutions! This year we had hot soup on tap and made our Argentine empanadas; a variety of our quesadillas and muffuletta sandwiches; mini cheesecakes; chocolate croissant bread pudding, antipasto, and much more.

As for the soups themselves, I couldn't help but notice beef was big this year with at least 5 entries using it as a main ingredient. Nothing like cold weather to get the carnivores salivating. Still, soup swap is really about having something for everyone and we did have a great selection. Here's the 2009 lineup followed by this year's winners:

The Soups

1. Fiery Chili Colorado
2. Minestrone with Beef
3. Celeriac-Apple Soup with Bacon & Chive Oil
4. Venezuelan Beef Soup
5. Spicy Tortilla with Smoked Pork + Baby Tamal
(accompaniment: fried tortilla strips)
6. Beef Stew with Porcini Mushrooms
7. Indian Spiced Split Pea Soup
8. Lentil + Sausage (3 quarts)
9. West African Peanut Soup (3 quarts)
10. Pig in the Apple Tree Stew
11. Chicken + Wild Rice Soup
12. Lamb with Beans, Barley, Carrots & Kale
13. Thai Butternut Squash (3 quarts)
14. Spicy Sausage + Potato (3 quarts)
15. Organic Cilantro-Potato Garbanzo Bean Goodness
16. Shrimp Bisque
17. Argentine Locro Stew

Most coveted soup:
Pete's "Spicy Tortilla with Smoked Pork + Baby Tamal (accompaniment: fried tortilla strips). During his "tell" he informed the crowd that he'd smoked the pork at 10pm and then let it finish overnight in the oven at 200 degrees. Who can resist this man!

Most original soup:
Julie's "Pig in the Apple Tree Stew." She said she was inspired by the signs of the Goddess, the pig and the apple. Who knew!? (Runner-up: Danni's "Celeriac-Apple Soup with Bacon + Chive Oil")

Most creatively packaged soup:
Michelle's "Chicken + Wild Rice Soup" for using prescription bottles to label her soup containers. "Take at first sign of cold or flu. May cause happiness. Active ingredient: Love." Walking up to claim her prize, Michelle exclaimed, "Thank you pharmaceutical companies!" (Runner-up: AGAIN, Danni's "Celeriac-Apple Soup with Bacon + Chive Oil" )

Last but not least soup:
Luis' "Venezuelan Beef Soup." We think this is a tad unfair, because his soup was in the freezer trying to freeze when folks were strategizing their soup picks. In any case, Margaret and I are delighted to have some waiting for us to consume one snowy night!

The Prizes (in no particular order):
1. Bill Buford's book Heat
2. Food Smarts trivia game
3. How to Be a Better Foodie book
4.Guyot Squishy Bowlsin tomato red!

I really wish we'd had an extra set of the squishy bowls. Those things are cool! But, instead we'll settle for our freezer packed with a variety of great soup!, I assure you this is in no way the result of my own soup selection skills. Whenever I'd walk up to pick Margaret would hiss, "WAIT! No, No, NO, not that one we already HAVE that one, get a different one! Get THIS one!" What would I do without her?

Once the final quart was plucked from the table the crowd erupted with a roar of applause and triumph. Success! Together we brought in 90 quarts of soup and every one of them went to a good home! We also managed to collect 35 canned goods which will be donated to Martha's Table. Martha’s Table helps DC's at-risk children, youth, and families improve their lives by providing educational programs, food, clothing, and enrichment opportunities.

We want to thank Heather and Joe for bringing extra tables, buckets of beer, donating a prize, and helping emcee; Cindy and Laris for bringing tons of veggie and pork spring rolls and helping with furniture rearrangement; Tatu for making her legendary steaming hot chai and doughnuts; but most of all we have to thank the great and enthusiastic group that made it out on a cold Sunday for our little "souperbowl" of sorts. We couldn't do it without you!

As things were wrapping up we overheard a few couples already making mental notes for next year. They picked up on the fact that if they were to each make six quarts of soup that means they'd get 12 glorious quarts to take home (that's our little trick). I know I already have a good idea for my 2010 packaging and accompaniment, now I just have to pick the perfect soup!

Getting Ready: Soup Swap 2009

In case you haven't heard, National Soup Swap day is upon us once again!!! Our friend Knox Gardner's been one busy guy not only with his own soup swap in Seattle but with revamping the official Soup Swap site and keeping up with all the national news.

Soup swappers are pretty laid back about things, so if you don't have enough time to get your friends and acquaintances together this weekend, you can always plan one when it's convenient for you. After sitting out last year, our friend Heather kindly nudged us over the holidays to get it together for our second DC swap. We're glad she did and now we're having ours at home this Sunday. I prefer Sunday afternoons/evenings since it gives people the whole weekend to make sure their soup is good, ready and frozen. Then we can all kick off the following work week with a packed freezer!

Speaking of frozen, if you're a first-time soup swapper looking for tips on how to cool, freeze, and store soup, click here.

Now that we only have about 4 days until our swap, we've been picking up a little buzz here and there from our guests. With categories like Most Coveted Soup, Most Unique Soup, Most Creatively Packaged Soup, and Last But Not Least Soup, we can't help but get excited and curious about what concoctions might walk through our door on Sunday.

Like last time, we'll have a full report on who made what next week! So stay tuned! In the meantime, happy soup swapping!

New Year's Oyster Stew

Here in America New Year's traditions often entail black-eyed peas, cabbage for good luck, something a bit healthier to kick off a resolution, or even a full-on detox.

In France, however, the New Year is often associated with oysters. France, after all, is Europe's #1 producer of oysters and the holiday season is the peak of oyster season. This New Year's association was news to me, but my friend Cindy asked me if I'd heard of oyster stew for the holiday and so I went rummaging around to dig for some inspiration. I can certainly see its appeal especially on a day when there's no shortage of celebratory spirits like champagne or stout.

So this New Year's Eve our stove's burners were simmering with chicken and sausage gumbo and this here oyster stew.

Oyster Stew
Serves 2-4

5 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp flour
1 yellow onion, peeled and roughly chopped

1 garlic clove, minced
2/3 c table cream, light cream, or whole milk
24 oysters, canned or shucked with 1/4 c oyster liquid reserved
2 tsp salt

4-6 twists of cracked black pepper
1-2 pinches red pepper flakes                                                                      
1/4 c green onions, chopped

1. Melt butter in a heavy-bottomed stock pot over medium-high heat. Add flour and stir continuously for about 3 minutes until you have a blond roux. Add salt and black pepper.

2. Throw in the yellow onion and garlic and saute about 3 minutes. Stir in the reserved oyster liquid, table cream, and bring to a boil and then simmer. Keep stirring so as not to burn the cream. 

3. Add the oysters and keep stirring until the edges of the oysters curl about 3-4 minutes. Top with green onion and red pepper flakes. Season to taste and serve!

Day 12 of 12: Pomegranate Buttercream

Here we are, finally, on our last day of the 12 Days of Pomegranate! Soon we'll be back to just soup again here at the GB, but our other recipes will live on at our new sister site. Thanks for humoring us. We hope somewhere in these 12 posts you found something worth trying.

The friendly folks at Pom Wonderful got wind of our little pomegranate celebration and were kind enough to send us a package of their juice along with information on the pomegranate's many health benefits. Thanks Pom Wonderful! While we still debate whether or not straight-up fresh pom juice tastes better than the bottled kind, there's no doubt the bottled stuff saves time and energy for recipes like this one.

This recipe is our most decadent of the 12 days and it was inspired by my first ever bite of a Cakelove masterpiece. We live down the street from Warren Brown's original Cakelove and Love Cafe shops and while our proximity is a detriment to our waistlines our tastebuds do a little dance anytime we stop in. What's more is that in light of the state of the economy, Warren has slashed prices, provides online coupons, and has started offering two-layer (as opposed to 3-layer) cakes, so now our wallets are happy too. Margaret prefers Neil's Hat Trick which features chocolate ganache and vanilla buttercream with fresh raspberries. I, on the other hand, am a fan of the Razz Ma Tazz featuring chocolate ganache and bright pink raspberry buttercream. The first time I tried a slice of this cake and tasted the Italian meringue version of buttercream that Warren uses for all his sweet treats, I couldn't help but wonder if a pomegranate version would work. Well, I took my idea to the mixer and let me assure you it does. The tang of the pomegranate with the richness of chocolate is a marriage made in heaven!

The only thing we noticed was that it didn't end up quite as pink as we'd expected. We kept ours natural, but you can always add red food coloring in Step 8 if you want a more dramatic color. We took the buttercream and used it for layers of something much like an opera cake, but you can use it however you like!

Pomegranate Buttercream

2 (8 oz) bottles of pomegranate juice (we used Pom Wonderful)
5 large eggs
1 1/4 c extra-fine granulated sugar*
1/4 c water
4 sticks unsalted butter, cut into small cubes and brought to room temperature

* To make granulated sugar extra fine at home simply pulse it in a food processor for about 3-5 minutes.

1. Pour pomegranate juice into saucepan, bring just to a boil and then simmer over low heat to reduce the juice for about 30 minutes until it yields about 1/2 cup pomegranate syrup. Set aside.




2. To make a simple syrup, prep by measuring 1 cup of the sugar with 1/4 cup water in a saucepan and affix a candy thermometer to the edge of the pan. Don't heat yet.

3. Separate egg whites from yolks and reserve yolks for another use. In a mixer, whip egg whites at high speed to stiff peaks, and with mixer running, add 1/4 cup sugar to the whites and continue to whip for another minute, just until whites are glossy.



4. Turn on the saucepan and heat the sugar/water mixture from Step 2 over medium-high until the candy thermometer reaches 245 degrees.



5. With mixer on medium-high speed, slowly pour the simple syrup into the meringue, being careful to avoid the sides of the bowl and the whisk, then keep whipping meringue at medium-high for about 2 minutes.

6. Reduce the mixer to medium speed and continue to whip for an additional 3-4 minutes until the mixture has cooled. (You can put your hand on the bottom of the mixer bowl to determine this).

7. Add butter cubes one tablespoon at a time until all butter is added. Increase the speed to high to fully incorporate the butter into the buttercream.



Note: For the next step, we actually took half the buttercream and set it aside to keep as plain vanilla for the center layer of our cake, but it's up to you whether you want the whole batch to be pomegranate or not.

8. Add the pomegranate syrup to taste, adding a little at a time, mixing and tasting as you go. We ended up using about 6 teaspoons total for our half of the buttercream (so we'd estimate it would be about 12 teaspoons for the full batch). Here's where you'd also add red food coloring if you like. Once you're satisfied with the taste, cover and chill the buttercream in the fridge until ready to use.






On a side note, for those of you wondering how George (the dog) is doing post-surgery. It took about 2 weeks for his wounds to heal. During this time we did everything in our power to ensure his maximum comfort. He didn't waste anytime taking advantage of this situation, meaning he even joined us on the (normally verboten) couch! He's doing fun