A Premium Soup Tasting and A Give Away!

I was recently invited to attend a special new frozen soup product-tasting event held at Cooking By The Book, a professional culinary event space in the TriBeCa neighborhood of Manhattan. The elegant rooms were beautifully decorated with black draping, multiple candles, and beautiful fresh flower arrangements.

The serving tables were readied with carafes of wine, white bowls, and dishes.

As a first course, a delicious array of Italian-style appetizers were offered...

...and enjoyed by a varied group of New York City bloggers who were in attendance.

Two very handsome and talented chefs were also in attendance -- Chef Michael Christiansen from Unilever, on the left, and Chef Fabio Viviani, a successful Los Angeles restaurateur and a popular Bravo "Top Chef" finalist, was on the right.

They were here to introduce a new, hearty, restaurant-quality line of frozen Meal Soups for Two, made by Bertolli!

There are four hearty meal soups in the line:

Chicken and Rotini Pasta

Tomato Florentine

Chicken Minestrone

Tuscan Beef and Vegetables

We watched a short video overview of the soups that were shot in Italy, as the soup recipes are based on soups offered in the finest restaurants in Rome.

We were then led to the event's beautiful state-of-the-art kitchen, where we watched a soup "cook-off" between Chef Mike and Chef Fabio.

Fabio began to prepare his soup by hand, doing lots of vegetable preparation and chopping.

Meanwhile, all Chef Mike had to do was open the package of frozen Bertolli's Hearty Meal Soup For Two, place it in a pot, add a cup of water, and let it simmer.  Chef Christiansen explained to us that each of the soup's fresh ingredients are cooked individually, and then flash frozen, so when the soup is reheated at home it stays firm and flavorful. Great care is made to balance the herbs and spices to bring out the delicious natural flavors.

No surprise that Chef Mike won the cook-off, as his soup was ready to serve in ten minutes! I love to make my own soups but I'd also enjoy this type of convenience on a busy day.

You can watch a minute of the fun banter between the chefs in the video below:





We were then treated to a sample bowl of each of the four flavors of soup, accompanied by a different selection of crusty Italian bread or focaccia, and a selection of red or white wine.

The soups were all delicious in their own unique way! I really liked the rich and creamy Tomato Florentine soup. It was a flavorful tomato bisque, full of chunks of roasted chicken and cheese-filled tortellini, with a hint of basil. I actually went back for a second serving of this soup!

My next favorite soup was the Tuscan Beef and Vegetables. It had many pieces of tender braised beef in its richly flavored broth, along with mushrooms, yellow squash, zucchini, carrots, celery, and bow-tie pasta.

The next two soups were a tie in my taste test: the Chicken Minestrone, which was full of roasted white meat chicken, beans, zucchini, yellow squash, carrots tomatoes, and pasta, which all combined to make a hearty vegetable broth was a deliciously robust minestrone.  The Chicken and Rotini Pasta soup which had a simple old-fashioned homemade chicken soup flavor, was full of roasted white meat chicken, pasta, zucchini, yellow squash, carrots, and celery. It would be the soup I'd reach for to offer my grandsons, as they would enjoy its more simple chicken soup taste without too many added spices.
Although I was invited to this event by Bertolli Foods, my opinions are all my own.

As we dined on our soups we were treated to beautifully sung opera!.  A ten-second video:

The evening ended with an array of Italian desserts -- cannoli, cookies, and Tiramisu!  As we departed we were treated to a gift bag by Bertolli, containing a bag of our favorite flavor soup to enjoy again in the future.

And now for the giveaway! 

Bertolli is kind enough to offer coupons for you to try the new frozen meal soup, and also the chance to win this soup ladle and ceramic bread dish so that you can serve your soup in style!   Sorry, but due to shipping costs, this set can only be mailed to USA residents. Please leave a comment on this post, and if you don't have a blog please leave your e-mail address so I can contact you if you win. If you are a follower of my blog please let me know in a second comment for an extra chance to win. The giveaway winner will be picked by Random.org and will be announced on my blog on Wednesday, October 5th, 2011.  Good luck!

Please visit all the blog events and join in all the fun!


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