In The News

Winter is the best time to take a sip-or two-of sensational soup

By Genie McPherson Trevor

“In January it’s so nice while slipping on the sliding ice to sip hot chicken soup with rice”. So wrote Maurice Sendack in his beloved children’s book, Chicken Soup with Rice. And he was right! It is so nice to sip hot soup during the icy months of winter. Of course, Sendack goes on to espouse soup-sipping right through the calendar year and he certainly has a point. But when that cold winter wind blows off Narragansett Bay, there is nothing better than hot soup to get the chill out of your bones. Soup is restorative. It is the best way to warm up from inside out, the flu-season favorite and grandma’s cold remedy. As the winter temperatures drop, the soup pots come out on home stoves, restaurants do a brisk soup business and so do purveyors of prepared foods. It seems everyone wants a sip of soup.

The East Bay is home to a wide spectrum of very talented soup makers. One of the most well known is Blount Seafood of Warren. Family owned and operated, Blount Seafood has been in operation since 1880, early on selling oysters, and, after the 1938 Hurricane, turning to clam processing. Almost 10 years ago, Blount acquired the Bristol soup company known as Cooks and Butler, and since then has been making freshly prepared soups that are sold around the country to a wide variety of restaurants, hotels, and other companies in the food industry, and from its factory store right in Warren.

As the corporate chef for Blount, Jeff Wirtz creates custom soup recipes for Blount’s long list of food service clients. He is a chef who knows his soup. He also develops recipes for both fresh and frozen soups sold under the Blount label, which now includes more than 40 different varieties from clam chowder to seafood gumbo, sausage and white bean and even chipotle vegetable.

Amazingly, Wirtz is able to translate the proportions from small batches in the test kitchen to much larger batches made in Blount’s brand-new production facility and still retain each soup’s full flavor and well-proportioned texture. Wirtz, who develops recipes with a keen eye to food trends explains, “Customers are looking for spicy soups, mostly with a Caribbean flair. This time of year, though, it is hard to compete with New England Clam Chowder and Lobster Bisque.” He graciously shares his famed chowder recipe here, though remains tight-lipped about the bisque.

Then there’s Nigel Vincent, the owner and head chef at Nat Porter Restaurant in Warren, who loves the comfort that soup provides. “A big pot of soup can be enjoyed by the whole family either for mealtime or snack time. Most of the time you can use ingredients that are already in your kitchen and it is really a very basic way to prepare food.” Nigel learned to cook on the line in restaurants rather than with formal training, and he describes his cooking as “coming from the heart.” He uses seasonal ingredients, as evidenced by his favorite winter soup, Butternut Squash Bisque. “Squash is something I can get from local farmers throughout the winter and it makes a beautifully smooth and bright-colored soup,” explains Nigel. You’ll agree, once you make his recipe and taste it for yourself.

Elsewhere in the East Bay the soup pots are bubbling as well. Cheri Olf, former owner of Narragansett Provision Co., in Bristol, is another talented soup maker who will be working with Galilean Seafood also of Bristol to develop its new line of chowders. “I learned so

much from entering last year’s {Schweppes 24^th Annual Great} Chowder Cook-Off in Newport, and I am thrilled to be able to use that knowledge, plus my love of soups and chowders, in my work,” Cheri says.

Whether from behind the stove or in front of a steaming bowlful, people clearly have a passion for soup. It is, after all, one of the oldest-if not the oldest-form of cooking. There are soup recipes and traditions from every culture the world over. And regardless of whether the recipe has been passed down through generations, or concocted just last week, soup can provide powerful comfort. “Sipping once, sipping twice, sipping soup is nice” (with apologies to Maurice Sendack).

We hope you enjoy these five sensational soup recipes from our own local chefs. They’re sure to warm you up on a frigid winter’s day.

Sausage and White Bean Soup
Makes approx. 1 gallon

This recipe comes compliments of Blount Seafood and Chef Jeff Wirtz. It is a hearty soup just perfect after snow shoveling or ice skating.

Ingredients:
· 2 tbsp. olive oil
· 1 medium onion, chopped
· 2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
· 1 cup chopped fennel
· 1 lb. hot Italian sausage, sliced, cooked (preferably grilled)
· 3 cloves garlic, minced
· ½ sprig fresh chopped rosemary
· pinch crushed red pepper flakes
· 2 ½ quarts chicken broth
· 1 cup kale, chopped
· 2 cans (12 oz) white beans, rinsed
· ¼ cup yellow corn meal
· salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat a 6-quart pot over medium-high heat.

2. Add onions, carrots, fennel and sausage to pot and cook for 3 minutes or until onions are soft. Stir constantly.

3. Add garlic, rosemary and crushed red pepper to pot and continue cooking for 1 minute. Stir often.

4. Add chicken broth, kale, white beans and corn meal to pot and bring to a boil. (Note: the chicken broth can be heated in a separate pot or in the microwave to save cooking time.)

5. Turn heat down and allow soup to simmer for 10 minutes to fully cook corn meal. (Note: for a thinner soup leave out corn meal.)

6. Season with salt and pepper. Serve hot, garnished with chopped rosemary.