Curried red lentil and butternut squash soup

From Bettina Tahsin

Serves 4-6

Bettina sent in a link to this recipe, from this month’s Gourmet, with the following notes:

• I reduced the water to 1 quart.
• I added 3/4 tsp of cayenne pepper when I added the curry powder.
• I heated up 1 tsp of oil with 1 tsp of whole brown mustard seeds until the seeds popped and added the oil and seeds once the soup had finished cooking.
• I didn’t make the cilantro oil.

The clean-crock club

Behold, this week’s smiling soup chefs. From left: Joe [last name?]  Germuska and Bettina Tahsin, Cinnamon Cooper, Andrew Huff, Robyn Nisi Jill Jaracz, and Dan Rybicky. Why are they smiling? Why, because it’s 6:45 and we’re not yet totally, utterly, completely out of soup.

By 6:50 it was another story.

Blame it on the power of Gapers Block, from whose ranks came three of our chefs. Blame it on the nice plug from the webzine Chicago 6 Corners. Blame it on the bike messengers. Blame it on the beautiful (and fleeting, boo) weather. 

Whatever the X-factor, we had an awesome turnout for this week’s Soup and Bread. Awesome for all save those who turned up at 7 and were left to lick lentils out of the bottom of a crock.

Last week we had leftovers. This week, a mad 6 PM rush. What can I say? It’s not an exact science. For what it’s worth, ever since we started up in January I’ve been asking volunteers to make about two gallons of soup each, and while some of our more pro donors — Swim, the Handlebar, Milk & Honey — have generously provided far more than that, I don’t want to prevail on the enthusiastic amateurs to do more. Two gallons is about the max you can turn out in a home kitchen, and even that can be a challenge.

Rest assured, though — we at Soup and Bread will continue to fine-tune the soup-to-people math in weeks to come. By April 1 we just might have it nailed.

Bread, on the other hand, we again had coming out our ears. Hugh came down with the flu and had to reschedule for next week, but our new friends at Whole Foods again donated a healthy bagful of day-old loaves and rolls. Thanks Whole Foods!

While it lasted, by the way, the soup was delish, tho I only tried three of the five: Bettina’s zesty butternut squash with ginger and red lentil, the Gapers Blockers’ rich black bean and pumpkin, and Dan’s crazy Carribean mash-up, which featured both pineapple and kielbasa. The vegan tomato soup was gone before I could even look at it funny, and then it got busy and I watched from behind the bar as the chicken noodle slipped away. 

Those last two were also courtesy of Gapers Block. Andrew, Cinnamon, Jill, and Robyn (who couldn’t make it) are planning on writing up their collective experiment in soup cookery over on Drive Thru sometime soon. And, of course, recipes for as many as I can get my hands on are pending.

Lastly, I should note that people were as generous as they were hungry. Donations for the night came to $235 — a Soup and Bread record. Thanks very much to one and all.