The great Soup Off

My lovely cousin Kate and her husband Rohan live in Melbourne, and while visiting earlier this year, an annual "Soup Off" was mentioned.  This was like waving a red rag at a bull... a Soup Off!!  Kate, tell me more!  What, when, where and how does this Soup-Off work?? 

Here is what she had to say...

Rohan and I were invited to a "Soup Off" from a work colleague, we didn't really know what to expect but were advised to bring along a soup.  The soup would be judged by all in attendance, and was a bit of a laugh. The best soup won a prize!

I had a few practise runs of soups and ended up making a spicy coconut and pumpkin soup with sesame salt. There were about 6 soups at that event, not one was the same. We had to give a score out of 10 for each soup.

We won the Soup Off that year, and decided to have a 'Curry Off' the following year with our group of friends that are all made keen on curry. 

I made a goat curry and Rohan made his magnificent Sri Lankan chicken curry. We had a big score board on the wall with the team names and name of each curry, some names were tongue in cheek and that has since become a bit of a tradition too, to give your soup a good name!!!

The curry off was a great hit, but it was a lot of food, so we decided to go back to the soup off for the following year. (Turns out Rohan won the Curry Off... amazing culinary talent in my family!)

  

The Rules?

No dessert soups is really the only main rule.

You have to prepare your soup at home and bring in the pot to just re-heat. Any condiments you wish to serve with your soup must be semi prepared also. You have full use of the kitchen when it is your turn to serve your soup, and the oven if required for condiments.

How many soups?

There are 7 couples/individuals that have been with us from the start. The previous year's winner, and therefore host, can invite some friends.  Last year (2010) the soup off was at our place as we won the comp from the year before (2009). I invited some friends to come along as they had heard me talking about making soups for the Soup-Off.  In 2010 we had 12 couples (so therefore 12 soups).

When?
Soup off is held yearly, generally in late July/early August. Being Victorian we have to work around the AFL games too...so it is a big event. 

So... any recipe sharing?

After the soup off is held we can share our recipes, before the soup off there is a bit of a 'lock down' of no talking about soups!!! It has grown into a bit of a serious competition now. We generally see each other weekly at football games or the boys have a chat, but there is never talk about soups...it is top secret!

What makes a winning soup?

I made a zucchini, broccoli and blue cheese soup last year and it had some crumbled blue cheese on the top - I got a caining from some people that don't like blue cheese!! So needless to say I did not do terribly well with lasts years soup!!!

We have never had the same soup at a soup off event. Last year there was only 1 soup with meat in it, the rest were all vegetable type soups.

I do try and do a different type of soup each year, and some people just try a pot luck kind of soup and hope for the best.

Some of the soups have been:-

• Peanut soup (a combination of peas and nuts!) not nice!!
• Spinach soup with a touch of cumin
• Moroccan lamb soup
• Beetroot and apple soup
• Prawn wanton soup
• Roasted tomato and capsicum soup with parmesan biscuit
• Cock-a-leekie- soup (chicken and leek)

  Winning soups?

• Spicy Coconut and Pumpkin soup with sesame salt
• Pea and Ham soup
• Tomato and Red lentil soup
• Chicken, corn and veg soup

The Prize?

The winner receives a white chefs hat and the right to hold the event the following year. They then wear the hat for the rest of the evening!!! Peter, who won last year, still likes to wear it as he was so surprised that he won!!! He will hold the soup off for 2011.

Thanks to cousin Kate for sharing the details of her "Soup Off" - hopefully we can get some recipes out of her, and a post-even report of the 2011 Soup Off - watch this space!

An annual themed dinner is such an awesome idea, especially for people who are not quite ready for regular dinner-parties.  If you have an annual cook-off of some sort, let me know, we'd love to hear from you!

  

Online Recipes

While I own my fair share of cookbooks, and I enjoy my 'old favourites', I also love the convenience of searching for recipes online.  There are lots of advantages of finding recipes this way:

• You can easily search for recipes you wouldn't normally cook, and therefore may not have in your own cookbook collection
• You can search by cuisine, dietary requirement, course or key ingredient - especially useful if you're holding a themed dinner party or need to cook for a vegetarian/gluten intolerant etc guest
• Some websites allow for recipes to be rated and comments to be made - I find this useful if I'm looking for a really great recipe for a popular dish, such as banana bread, or for alternatives to an existing recipe, such as  the 'rock' in rocky road!

There are loads of websites to access for recipes, and I often find great recipes on various blogs, but here are some of my favourites:

• Donna Hay - my personal favourite
• Taste - a great website with recipes from a range of magazines and television cooking programs
• BBC Food - similar to Taste, but from the UK
• Delia Smith - this woman got me though my first Christmas Turkey for guests...unharmed!

Last week, online news provider Finda.Toowoomba started a new segment, "Cooking with Finda", offering step-by-step recipes by the chefs from local restaurant the Olive Branch.  It's a bit exciting to access recipes which are actually served in this popular restaurant.  I'm going to try and have a go at each weekly recipe, starting with this week's Sun Dried Tomato and Thyme bread. 

Naturally I will need to pop into OB each week to taste their version, and make sure I'm on the right track... 

Wish me luck!

To cheat, or not to cheat...

When I cook, I get a huge sense of achievement, and I've definitely noticed the same sense of pride developing with every Feed Lot dinner we have.  This is particularly noticeable with our male members... who at first were quite happy to simply attend and eat whatever the girls had prepared.  Now, the boys are rising to the challenge, contributing to the monthly Feed Lot dishes and bursting with pride as we all enjoy 'their' dish.  The Feed Lot has become just as much about the food as it is the friendships.  I think given the chance, we would all choose to make our meals over "cheating" with store-bought, pre-made or straight-from-the-freezer options.  Which brings me to the 'cheating' bit...  

I have just been reading a post by Mia Freedman at Mamamia, discussing a Daily Mail report stating 'four in ten people cheat when preparing for a dinner party'.  I didn't find this overly surprising... as I've come to discover not everyone feels at home in the kitchen, in fact, cooking for guests can give some people the same angst as speaking in public or sober karaoke.  What I did find surprising, was the Daily Mail's Top Ten 'Cheat' List...

THE TOP TEN DINNER PARTY CHEATS

1. Using ready-made pastry - 50%
2. Using shop-bought stock - 35%
3. Using sauce from a jar or packet - 33%
4. Using frozen vegetables - 19%
5. Ordering a takeaway - 12%
6. Getting your mother to prepare a dinner party for you - 10%
7. Hiring a catering company - 10%
8. Serving supermarket microwave meals - 9%
9. Serving tinned soup - 8%
10. Having a friend cook a meal and drop it round - 5%

Using shop-bought stock!  Oh my... maybe we've been cheating all along!  How far do you have to go before dinner party bragging rights are awarded?  Is it still cheating if you wholeheartedly admit to the shortcuts you've taken?  Just where do we draw the line?

Despite this (alarming) list of 'dinner party cheats', I still don't consider our Feed Lot group to be 'cheaters', and couldn't bear to tell our proud-as-punch new male chefs they're efforts were wasted because they didn't make their own pasty when really, the end result was an achievement regardless. 

So maybe, when it comes to dinner parties, it is less about the food, and more about the effort... for "one man's cheat, is another man's hard work."

Thanks for this Mamamia... you've given us much food for thought!

Dinner for Eight

Recently my husband celebrated his 34th Birthday.  He didn't want any fuss, so I did what I have over the past 12 months learnt to do best, and threw him a dinner party.  The dinner was a surprise, to be held in our backyard.  Eight people, three courses, and a black tie theme. 

Surprising my husband is no easy feat, but with the assistance of friends, we pulled it off.  I spent the evening before at Mum's, preparing the entree and main, with some girlfriends pitching in to produce dessert. 

My husband's best mate arrived from out of town early, and helped me get the backyard ready - shifting garden furniture, filling buckets with ice and placing lights around the yard.

If only he'd taken the black tie theme just as seriously....

Probably my best decision, and something I highly recommend if you're planning a dinner party at home, was to 'hire' family members to help out on the night.  I had already done most of the cooking, so my Mum and her friend simply had to plate, serve and clean up each course.  Having them there meant I was free to enjoy the evening without having to spend all my time in the kitchen, or have our beautifully dressed guests help with the washing up!

The menu was chosen based on the Birthday boy's favourite meals, here is what we enjoyed:

Entree:  Smoked Salmon, Avocado and Goats Cheese terrine

Main:  Green Olive and Tomato baked Chicken with Couscous

Dessert:  Sticky Date Pudding with Butterscotch sauce

We had a fabulous night, and it was well worth the preparations to enjoy a dinner party in our backyard with close friends.  The black tie element just made it all the more special. 

One day, I would love to host a dinner party each month, for a year... the time and money required would be well worth it.  Only problem is, finding enough people to invite!

Dinner Party Conversation Starters

Conversation starters by Kikki-K are a great addition to any dinner party.  There are several themes, including 'Christmas Conversation Starters' which we whipped out at our recent Feed Lot Christmas Dinner night.

Whilst we never seem to struggle for conversation at our Feed Lot dinners, the addition of random questions can lead to finding new and interesting things about people you thought you knew pretty well... especially after a few drinks!

The conversation starters are available from Kikki-K, $14.95.

'Tis the Season

Has your love of cooking and entertaining lead you to tackle a Christmas party or meal this year?  I tend to get a bit excited, and while I would LOVE nothing more than to hold a Christmas brunch, cocktail party and three course dinner party all in the spirit of the season, I have instead decided to focus on hosting the family Christmas lunch.  Last year I successfully pulled off a traditional English Christmas dinner with Turkey and all the trimmings whilst working in a Ski Chalet, something I'm extremely proud of having never cooked a Turkey before.  This year won't be a huge affair, but I'm excited to be cooking for my family, and have been busily ooohhh-ing and aahhh-ing through the December food magazines to create my menu. 

So far I've earmarked a few recipes from Donna Hay's Celebrate Magazine... and I'm about to crack open the December/January edition of Delicious magazine.  Foodie Magazines can be great sources of not only recipes, but menu ideas also.  The bonus is they often come with added hints and tips for setting the table, matching drinks and little style ideas to make your occasion even more memorable.

I'll keep you posted on my family Christmas menu... but right now I'm loosening my belt in preparation for The Feed Lot's Christmas Night, only three sleeps away!

The Gift of Cooking

Let's face it, cooking isn't for everyone.  In fact, something I've learnt over the years is not everyone has the same experience in the kitchen as I do, which is why something like The Feed Lot makes some of my friends cringe, while the rest start to clap.

The beauty of The Feed Lot is it forces us to try something new each month - Mexican, Thai, Madagascan, Italian, Traditional Christmas or the humble Pie - with delicious results.

I wasn't always into cooking.  Sure, in high school, I graduated top of Home Economics, and grew up with a great example of home cooked meals from my Mum, who never failed to disappoint at dinnertime.  But it wasn't until recently that I truly became interested in cooking.  I started reading cooking magazines, finding new recipes, trying foreign ingredients and getting a fabulous sense of achievement from producing something delicious.

Something else I've enjoyed along the way is cooking lessons.  Admittedly I've only done a few, with varying levels of hands-on involvement, but I have generally come away with a new skill, recipe or friend.  My first cooking lesson was a wedding gift, a voucher to The Spirit House cooking school in Yandina, Sunshine Coast.  This was hands-down one of the best wedding gifts we received - it was great fun, particularly for my husband who now happily tackles new recipes when the opportunity arises - no longer the spaghetti bolognaise/curried sausage/beef stroganoff man I'd married!

Why not give the gift of cooking this Christmas?  Here are some I've tried, to get you started:

Spirit House Cooking School, Yandina
Gordy's Cafe Deli, Toowoomba
Gypsy Gourmet, Toowoomba

Happy cooking xx

Food, Fashion, Friends

Every now and then I treat myself to an indulgent purchase, something I don't necessarily NEED but desperately WANT.  My most recent of these was Fleur Wood's Food, Fashion, Friends book. 

A large hardcover book, I touched, oohhed and aahhed over it for a good week, before deciding to plan a black tie dinner party in our backyard before the year is out - a la the menu prepared by Matt Moran in Food, Fashion, Friends.

There are a variety of entries, from high tea to vintage kids party to the perfect Sunday brunch.  Each entry comes complete with a mouth-watering menu, style details and images to further fuel your imagination.

As an added bonus, when it comes time to put this lovely book down, it's a perfect addition to any coffee table... assuming you can bring yourself to share.

MUNCH: A Monthly Lunch

Recently I was reading the August edition of Shop Til You Drop magazine, where editor Justine Cullen wrote about her group of girlfriends called Munch.

Munch is an abbreviation for 'Monthly Lunch', started years ago for the girlfriends of a tight circle of guys.   According to Justine, half of the couples have now broken up, and while the boys are not as tight, the girls have stayed strong, turning Munch into a noun (when's the next Munch?) and a verb (can't wait to go Munching!).

Justine describes her Munch as "the most all-accepting, like-minded, fun-loving group of girlfriends" she's ever had.  "Munch is all about love, support and a good time (not to mention good wine)... you never leave Munch feeling judged or not good enough.  You just leave it feeling good."

I feel the same way about our Feed Lot dinners.  Each month the Feed Lot is highly anticipated, our little group just seems to work - we are comfortable with each other, and in the same way as Justine's Munch, there are no soapboxes, high horses, grudges or agendas at our Feed Lot.  Just my three favourite ingredients... good food, good drink and great company.