Big Mouth Big Bowl, Soup Edition

Angie and I decided to make our February feast a little bigger than just us. We made it into a cooking challenge, and the Big Mouth Big Bowl Challenge, Soup Edition was born.

Preparations started Thursday night. I was busy making place mats and sewing cloth napkins and printing my recipe on a special card to be exchanged with the other chef-testants and buying a few more dishes (and a ladle).

Friday night I went to Angie's. There was grocery shopping and pom pom fluffing to be done.

Saturday morning preparations were in full swing. After a quick stop at our favorite cheese shop we came home to make our soups and the cheese platter and decorate the kitchen.

Special touches included. . . 

. . . simple floral arrangements (baby's breath and red carnations) in Campbell's soup cans.

. . . a personalized spoon (as a trophy) made by Wooden Hive framed and mounted on paper.

. . . recipes printed on cards from Honeybee Designs.

. . . poms from Prost to the Host.

. . . handmade cloth napkins (with Helen Dardik Mod Kitchen fabric from Lucky Kaeru Fabric).

. . . personalized place mats featuring the name of each soup.

The guests started arriving around 3:00 (with their soups).

We snacked on a gourmet selection of cheeses and meats while we waited to eat/judge the soup and bread at 4:30.

Cheese included:
Pleasant Ridge Reserve (WI cheese)
Trugole (cow, Italy)
Black River Blue (WI cheese)
Dorothea (goat with potato)
Ossau-Iraty (sheep, France)

Meat included:
Spicy Sopprasata
Prosciutto

Nibbles included:
breadsticks
chocolate covered espresso beans
grapes
stuffed peppers
salted almonds
pears
fig jam

(The WI cheese plate in the front is a little sampling of WI cheese from the grocery store to keep the kids happy.)

See the little red peppers in the lower right corner of the picture below? The might be my new favorite appetizer. They are pickled peppers (from by the peppers and olives at the grocery store), cleaned out, and stuffed with feta seasoned with salt and pepper. Delish!

I also found out that I actually do like blue cheese. This was a WI blue. We served it with fig jam and pear slices. DELICIOUS!

And, then it was time to serve the soups. We drew names and served the soups one at a time.

Contestant # 1 was Barbara. She served split pea and ham. I still cannot explain how amazed I was by this soup. I had no idea I even liked split pea and ham, but Barbara convinced me that I do. She filled hers up with spinach and leeks and other vegetable goodness. Perfection!

Contestant # 2 was Angie. She served up her extra-special Hois-i-licious Shrimp Bisque. Little did we know as we tasted it, but this soup would go home with the winner's spoon!

Angie's Happiness on a Spoon (aka chicken dumping) was soup # 3. The hostess of our festivities definitely served up a competitive soup. It got my vote with its homemade chicken stock and subtly sweet flavor from rutabaga.

My soup - minestrone - was the final soup of the night. I've eaten it a million times before, so I think it paled in comparison to its competitors, but Brad and Angie both assured me it was tasty.

Here is my place mat after all the soups were eaten. I definitely ate too much; I was easily more full than I normally am at Thanksgiving!

And, then it was time to cast the votes. We each got one vote, and the chef-testants could not vote for their own concoction. Casting my vote was far more difficult than I thought it would be. Each soup was so different, and each had its own little something special. In the end, though, I went with the chicken dumpling.

I should probably also have mentioned that the fun of the evening was greatly enhanced by a sampling of fine beers. Angie and I selected:

Stella Artois

Capitol Brewery, Supper Club (WI beer)

Lake Front Brewery, Wheat Monkey (WI beer)

Leinenkugels, 1888 Bock (WI beer)

We finished off the night by just hanging out and chatting. Dorothy - of course - got Brad's undivided attention.

Congratulations to Angie and her shrimp bisque for taking home the trophy!

Thank you to the other Angie (my Angie) for being the best hostess and the bestest friend!

Thank you to Barbara for making me laugh and showing me that I do, in fact, like split pea and ham soup.