I host a soup night, ideally once a month, but really it happens when we have a free weekend night. I make a huge pot of soup, customized each time for the number of people coming and the allergies/preferences/aversions of the guests. It’s really, really fun and it gives us a way to actually get together with our friends regularly even when life is hectic. It’s a different group of people each time…and if there is every a time that everyone on the invite list can show up, I’m not sure what we’ll do, our house isn’t nearly big enough!

This time I live-tweeted the making of the soup, just for fun. A sort of step-by-step recipe without instructions! This is enough soup for 16-18 people.

3 onions:

Onions

4-5 quarts chicken stock simmering on the back burner:

Chicken Stock Simmering

3-4 carrots (mulitcolored, they looked cool!):

Added Carrots

1 fennel bulb and 4 stalks celery:

Fennel and Celery

Cooking all that stuff down, entertaining myself with the camera:

Waiting for veggies to cook down

4 yellow potatoes:

Potatoes will go in next

3/4 bottle white wine and 6 cloves garlic:

Added white wine and garlic

One bunch kale, somewhat “julienned”…I’d say finely shredded:

Shredded Kale

6 small zucchini:

Zucchini

Snap peas, halved:

Lastly, snap peas

In there with the zucchini went 3 cans of cannellini beans and then the soup was ladeled over spaghetti that I broke in half before boiling (so it would be possible to eat it with a spoon!)

To serve it was first pasta, then soup, pesto on top of that (basil-walnut-lots of lemon), and for everyone but me, shredded parmesean.

Topped with pesto for serving

Yum.