Winter is soup season! Here are descriptions of the soups our kitchen is currently making, from Chef Glenn Lozuke. Look for the soups in the Grab & Go case.
A NEW Lentil Soup
One great thing about working at our Food House is that all the employees, including kitchen staff, bakers, and administrative staff, break for lunch at the same time to share a communal meal. Lunch call is at 11 am and everybody makes their way to the break room.
Lunch often includes some items currently on the menu at our stores, like our new lentil soup. Beautifully simple, healthy, and delicious is how I’d describe this soup. It has light notes of cumin and garlic rounded out by fresh tomato. This legume-filled soup is 100% plant based and it’s packed with flavor.
Our employees simply love this soup! They’ve been known to scrape the bottom of the pot to get the last bits. After seeing how staff responded to the new recipe, we knew we had to share it with the rest of our Weaver family. It’s now in our stores! Enjoy!
Vegetable-Based Soups
All of our soups are made from scratch in our Food House kitchen. Our vegetable-based soups are some of our best-sellers.
Vegetable soup. Our veggie soup is chock full of hearty plant-based ingredients simmered in a savory tomato broth base. It’s been a classic at Weaver Street for decades. The red bean & okra gumbo is a hearty soup for those cold nights. The soup’s base is made with a classic brown roux that gives this selection a nutty, rich flavor. Tender okra and greens round off this hearty gumbo. The vegetarian chili is a consistent winner among our customers, who clamor for its return in the late fall. Rich savory flavors of tomato, red beans, sweet potatoes, and enriched textured soy protein will make believers out of even our meat eaters.
Cream of mushroom soup. For those vegetarians who like some creaminess in their soup, our cream of mushroom soup will be the perfect fit. There’s a reason why Weaver Street makes this soup year round. People simply love it! It’s crafted by caramelizing aromatics ‘til soft and sweet. (Aromatics are a foundation of many soups–vegetables and herbs heated in fat, like butter or oil, at the beginning of the cooking process.) Next, button and portabella mushrooms are high-temperature roasted to deepen the flavor. Some locally produced heavy cream is added, and then the mixture is pureed to just the right texture.
We also are making butternut squash soup and vegetarian chili this winter.
Meat-Based Soups
Vegetable beef soup. Like our vegetable soup, our vegetable beef soup is full of vegetables but is further enriched with the addition of local Mills Family Farm beef. After visiting Mills Farm, we’re not surprised how the quality of their product shines through: their cows graze on pasture, eat a high-quality diet, and are grown without antibiotics and synthetic growth hormones. This rich and meaty broth-based soup is sure to please.
Our Mediterranean chicken soup has a unique blend of herbs and spices, which gives it a distinct flavor. Nothing says comfort more than Weaver-made chicken noodle soup. We use Freebird chicken, slowly simmered with vegetables and tender noodles.