Soup Night (39 page)

Summertime Desserts
Raspberry-Lemon Pie

Recipe from Elizabeth Newland,
Civano Soup Supper
, Tucson, Arizona

Serves 5–6

Elizabeth says: This is my brother-in-law’s favorite pie. If I serve anything else for dessert, he’s disappointed. He’s too polite to say anything, but I can tell by the look on his face. I always serve this with real whipped cream on the side, and if the pie is going to a fancy affair, I spread whipped cream over the top, and decorate it with blue borage blossoms and a few extra raspberries. Red, white, and blue — beautiful!

Ingredients

• 1 unbaked single pie shell (ready-to-bake from the grocery store is fine)
  
• 1
  ¹
  ⁄
  ₂
  cups sugar
  
• ¹
  ⁄
  ₃
  cup cornstarch
  
• 1
  ¹
  ⁄
  ₂
  cups water
  
• 3 egg yolks, lightly beaten
  
• 3 tablespoons butter
  
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest
  
• ¹
  ⁄
  ₄
  cup lemon juice
  
• About 1 pint fresh raspberries, more for garnish
  
• Heavy cream, whipped and sweetened
  
• Borage flowers, for garnish (optional)
  

Instructions

1. 1.
   Preheat the oven to 350°F.
   
2. 2.
   Fit the pie shell into a pie plate and bake for about 7 minutes, until lightly browned. Set aside to cool.
   
3. 3.
   Make the lemon filling: Combine the sugar and cornstarch in a saucepan and gradually whisk in the water. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens and comes to a boil. Boil, still stirring constantly, for 1 minute longer.
   
4. 4.
   Gradually stir half of the thickened mixture into the egg yolks, mixing well. Then blend the egg mixture back into the remaining hot filling mixture in the saucepan. Boil for 1 minute longer, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter, lemon zest, and lemon juice.
   
5. 5.
   Spread the hot filling in the cooled pie shell, and then cover the filling with a single layer of raspberries, pressing berries slightly into the filling, upside down (with the rounded berry bottoms facing up). It will take a little more than a pint to cover the pie, depending on the size of the berries.
   
6. 6.
   Cover and chill the pie in the refrigerator. Serve with whipped cream and borage flowers, if using.
   

Make ahead?
Yes — see step 6.

For large crowds:
If you have enough berries, you could make this in a large baking pan with a crumb crust, and cut it into squares for serving. Alternately, make the original recipe multiple times.

When my kids are in their 50s, sitting on their own front porch and thinking back over their lives, the main thing they will remember about their childhood is Soup Night.

— Alex, Stanton Street

If you are excited about the idea of Soup Night and would like to see one on your block, you will find plenty of help from the hosts whose stories are described in this book. Several of them took the extra step of outlining some of the things they have learned over the years about how to orchestrate Soup Night and keep it going. I have grouped them together here, along with my sincere thanks for their generosity. I have supplemented their accumulated wisdom with the following step-by-step outline of what it takes to start a Soup Night in your neighborhood.

Recruit one other neighbor
as a partner. If you don’t already know all your neighbors, ask someone who knows the people you don’t to be your partner in this adventure.

Pick a date one or two weeks away
to host your first neighborhood Soup Night. Weekends are generally the best.

Write a short letter,
explaining the idea and giving the specifics of the first Soup Night, to be held at your house. List your address and phone number, along with the date and time in big letters. Make enough copies for all the houses on the block.

Go door to door
with your partner, introducing yourself if need be and explaining your idea. Leave a copy of the letter.

Note the addresses where no one is home,
and make a second effort. If they’re still not home, leave your letter with a handwritten P.S. asking if they would please call you.

Prepare a colorful reminder invitation
two or three days before the event and distribute it to everyone. Add a handwritten line for those you have not yet heard from, saying you hope they will come.

One thing you may have noticed, reading through this book, is that the best ideas show up more than once. So you might not be surprised to see that some of the Soup Night hosts have hit upon similar strategies to keep their events running smoothly. As you read through their ideas here, feel free to pick and choose the ones that fit your own circumstances.

1. 1.
   Establish a regular day and time, such as the third Monday of the month from 6 to 7:30
   pm
   .
   
2. 2.
   In the beginning, deliver invitations in person so you can explain your idea. Drop off reminders a few days ahead.
   
3. 3.
   Invite everyone. That’s really the whole point — so that people get to know each other.
   
4. 4.
   Make it easy for people to attend. Don’t ask them to bring food contributions; don’t ask them to RSVP; set an end time so people know they’re only committing for the dinner hour. I even have disposable coffee cups that people can use for “to go” containers if they need to. This is definitely hospitality rather than entertaining. It’s a simple welcome and sharing, and that simplicity makes it easier for folks to come.
   
5. 5.
   Do as much in advance as possible. Many soups can be made ahead, either completely or partially. Garnishes can be prepped ahead too. You don’t want hours of last-minute work, or else how you would survive to do the next Soup Night?
   
6. 6.
   Keep the soups warm on the stove, label them, and let people help themselves. I used disposable paper bowls but found we needed to double them because soup is hot!
   

1. 1.
   Someone takes responsibility to set dates, sign up host families, and notify the neighbors. There needs to be a leader.
   
2. 2.
   Our Soup Night is always on the same night at the same time of year for eight weeks. Whatever schedule an organizer/group picks, it works well to have a routine of some sort that people can count on.
   
3. 3.
   We distributed creative invitations for a number of years, but a neighborhood directory which includes e-mail addresses has moved the invitations to the electronic level of communication and makes it a lot less expensive and a lot less work.
   
4. 4.
   There needs to be a committed partnership of a few to attend and support soup supper. Our Soup Night was small at first, and always hosted by Kate, but it has grown because, I believe, a couple of other families with the gift of hospitality moved to the neighborhood and began to share hosting. This increased the radius of contacts with neighbors and broadened the enthusiasm, which sparked even greater interest. It also made it easier on Kate. Finding committed partners is important.
   
5. 5.
   We live in a small historic district with defined boundaries. Having a clearly defined area also makes our Soup Nights successful as we have an identity as neighbors. Identifying and defining a geographical area is important even if there isn’t a ready-made target area.
   
6. 6.
   Keeping it simple makes it easy. A pot of soup by the host family can be put out for self-service or dished up by the hostess. The guests bring any kind of finger food to add to the meal (breads, crackers, cheeses, veggie trays, deviled eggs, fruit, cookies, etc.). Our Soup Nights have been around long enough that folks have started to branch out with salads and desserts, which need plates and utensils. This is wonderful, but not necessary. The drinks are usually ice water and tea or coffee.
   

I really believe that if everyone had a Soup Night to go to, there would be no more crime, no more wars.

— Regina Roberts, Loveland, Colorado

In the 42 years that we’ve been married, my husband and I have hosted many large gatherings. During that time I’ve come up with a couple of things that make it easy and inexpensive, and I rely on them when we are the soup hosts.

1. 1.
   I have a couple of crock containers in which I keep utensils that are strictly for large group use. One has more than 40 soup spoons of random patterns, which I picked up at garage sales or thrift shops. The other container has more than 40 forks gathered the same way. When a crowd comes over, I just pull out these crocks from a convenient shelf and I’m all set for utensils. After the utensils have been washed, they are put away in the appropriate crock ready for next time.
   
2. 2.
   I like blue-and-white dishes, so I’ve collected many blue-and-white bowls from garage sales and thrift shops; this collection can also be pulled out in a hurry. Because they all have the same color scheme, there is a cohesive look to the ensemble. It also happened that over the years I’ve found about two dozen of the same pattern. I’m always on the lookout.
   
3. 3.
   For beverages I use plastic cups, but wash them for reuse until they break and then I recycle them. If the crowd is really big, then a permanent marker lets people put an identifying mark on their cups. Coming up with crazy titles can be fun, such as “My parents’ favorite child” and other silliness.
   
4. 4.
   I look for seasonal napkins/plates after the season and save them for use next year. I have a shelf in the basement dedicated to the plastic cups, napkins, and plates, so I always know where to find them.
   
5. 5.
   I bought myself a large soup pot of good quality from a seconds store so I can make a very large pot of soup and walk away to do other jobs without worrying about the bottom scorching.
   
6. 6.
   I put lemon, lime, berries, or cucumber slices in the water pitcher just to add a touch of flavor and elegance.
   
7. 7.
   I always boil the holiday turkey bones and put the broth in the freezer. I often make a soup that calls for chicken broth but use the turkey broth first before using purchased chicken broth. I also use my freezer to keep vegetable broth or anything else that might go to make a tasty pot of soup. In the “anything else” category, veggies in the vegetable bin that are getting a little old can get chopped up and frozen to be thrown into a pot of soup for added flavor and richness. My kids laugh at me, but I’ll even scrape the good bacon meat gel off of the bottom of the bacon fat once it has hardened and save that in a container in the freezer for use as a secret ingredient. Any meat gel is good to keep.
   
8. 8.
   I keep a file for soup ideas to get me launched, but of course, adapt according to what I have on hand or what’s on sale. It’s good to give yourself permission to be flexible.