For the last 15 years, Heritage Baptist Church in Annapolis has raised funds for the local homeless shelter through soup.
Not just any soup, but recipes from local restaurants that customers dream about, all shared for a good cause on Super Bowl Sunday.
But this year, the coronavirus pandemic makes sharing soup with a bunch of strangers less than smart. So what did the organizers of the annual SOUPer Bowl do?
“We can’t gather and serve soup to raise money for the Light House Shelter, but we’ve decided to continue the effort virtually,” event spokesperson Lea Hurt wrote in an email. “Can’t break a 15-year streak, right?”
For a week starting Monday, Heritage Baptist will host a virtual SOUPer Bowl event on their Facebook page (HeritageAnnapolis), with daily content featuring soup recipes. It’s free, but donations are encouraged at HeritageLoves.com/onlinegiving. One hundred percent of funds donated will go to the Light House Homeless Prevention Center.
The event also will feature video greetings from the Light House and the Heritage Baptist SOUPer Bowl team, Information on the mission of the Light House “Did you know” SOUPer Bowl trivia.
Over the years the event has raised more than $30,000 for the shelter.
“The Light House needs our help now more than ever,” said the Rev. Scott Shelton, pastor of Heritage Baptist. “COVID-19 has made the work they do even more challenging. We did not want to pass up this opportunity to help, so we decided to continue the SOUPer Bowl tradition online.”
To whet your appetite, here are two of the recipes:
Baked Potato Soup
Chef Zachary Pope
Ingredients:
4lbs of Russet Idaho Potatoes (about seven medium-sized potatoes)
3oz Vegetable Oil
1oz Kosher salt
1C. Heavy cream
4C. Whole milk
1 Yellow onion (minced finely)
1T. Garlic, fresh chopped
1t. Cracked black pepper
Loaded baked potato garnishes
Clean the potatoes thoroughly in a clean sink. Leave them in the sink and dowse with vegetable oil. Use salt to place a coating on the potatoes.
Place the oiled and salted potatoes on a cookie pan. Then place the pan in a 300-degree oven for one hour until potatoes are fully cooked, but not dried out. Remove and allow them to cool.
In a medium to a large stockpot, add all other ingredients together except for the Black Pepper, and heat on medium.
When potatoes are cool enough handle, begin to cut each potato into large, three-quarter-inch dice. Be sure to use all the potato skin with all its salty goodness.
Place your diced potatoes, salty skin & all, in the pot with your aromatic milk mixture.
Simmer for one hour, vigorously stirring frequently with a wooden spoon. The mixture in your pot should thicken as you stir and break-up the starchy potatoes.
Taste and season as needed.
Add your black pepper at the end as you please.
Serve with garnishes appropriate for topping any ‘Loaded Baked Potato’ such as sour cream, butter, cheeses, bacon, scallions, chives, hot sauce, grilled chicken, ham.
Enjoy and share.
Bistro Creamy Crab Soup
Light House Bistro
– Original Credit:
Ingredients:
1 each white or yellow onion, chopped
2 lbs yellow squash, quarter lengthwise and remove seeds. Roughly chop.
2 large russet potatoes, peel and roughly chop.
1 each leeks, white part only
2 stalks celery, white part
2-3 quarts chicken stock
Salt
2 cups heavy cream (optional)
3 tbsp butter
1 lb lump crabmeat, picked through to ensure no shells
Preparation:
Sweat the vegetables in butter. Add chicken stock to just cover all the veggies. Simmer until cooked through.
Puree then season with salt and white pepper. Return to pot then add cream, simmer and heat through.
Add crab meat and gently stir to warm.
