Winter is coming. It's getting steadily colder and darker, and the nation is still reeling from a presidential election that pretty well split voters down the middle. It may be a good time for a healing bowl of soup, or better yet, a soup swap.
While the idea of a soup swap may sound inviting as the weather gets colder, finding culinary inspiration can be a bit daunting. Virginia visited Kathy Gunst, the James Beard Award-winning cookbook author and Here and Now's resident chef at her home kitchen in southern Maine on a raw fall day to get some one-on-one soup tips from her book Soup Swap: Comforting Recipes to Make and Share.
It all started six years ago, when Kathy's friend Hope called and proposed a soup swap: 1 person hosts, makes the salad, bread, and dessert - and everybody else brings a pot of soup. Six years later, the monthly soup-swappers still rotate hosting duties among a group of twelve - none of them vegetarians.
Kathy says soup carries a story, so the group has made a tradition of telling an origin story before they sit down to eat - it's a way of acknowledging the work, Kathy says, and it also helps bring the group together.
Interested in hosting your own soup swap? Here are five tips from Kathy Gunst to get you started.
Soup Tips:
- Funky toppings
- Make sure you’ve got the right equipment
- Keep calm and make stock
- For soups with noodles and rice, cook them separately
- Let the soup sit – it gets better with time
You can also join Kathy at Gibson's Bookstore on November 16 at 5:30pm where she'll be speaking about Soup Swap: Comforting Recipes to Make and Share.
Print an 8.5 x 11 version of the recipe at this link: Thai Red Curry-Chicken Noodle Soup
