Great Soup, Empty Bowls

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

The Anishnawbe Street Patrol is a Toronto anti-poverty program run by a
First Nations coalition that supplies food to Toronto’s most isolated
street people. About 10 years ago, Anishnawbe fundraisers joined forces
with professional chefs, potting enthusiasts, and supporters of the
Gardiner Museum of Ceramics to create the “Empty Bowls” fundraising
event, in which chefs provided soup, potters provided handmade bowls,
and the Gardiner provided the venue for patrons to come and enjoy
gourmet soup in designer bowls; the proceeds went to help Anishnawbe’s
clients.

Many of Toronto’s most adventurous chefs have contributed to this
book, and as a result, the recipes are definitely on the bold side.
Selections include Celery Root and Foie Gras Soup with Jerusalem
Artichoke Chips, Hot and Sour Egg Drop Soup with Quail, Bean Soup with
Smoked Sun-dried Tomatoes and Herbed Quark, Lamb and Tomato Soup with
Fava Beans and Gremolata, Swirled Purees of Green Pea and Yukon Gold
Potatoes, Chilled Apple Curry Soup with Beet Relish, Wild Ginger and
Spinach Soup, Crab Chipachole, Pheasant and Lentil Soup with Quenelles,
Cold Yogurt Buttermilk Lemon Soup with Grated Pumpernickel, Cold Summer
Fruit Soup with Vanilla Anglaise, Corn Chowder with Seared Pimentone
Shrimp, and Baked Pepper and Onion Soup with Asiago Croutons. Some
recipes are also not without “chef” humor. Michael Stadhtlдnder’s
“Best Winter Soup” recipe starts with “Kill a chicken and clean
it.”

The book features short biographies on all the contributing chefs and
offers some very good tips on how to make chef-quality soup stocks.
Unfortunately, there is no glossary for readers who do not know their
quarks from their quenelles. Sixteen mouthwatering color photographs
show the mastery of both the soups and the bowls. The book is a great
read and the recipes will intrigue and challenge cooks with intermediate
to advanced culinary skills.