Learn to Soup this weekend at Cantina with Chef Pettit

“Soup is a cultural piece upon which we can all connect. Who here doesn’t like soup?” Chef Matt Pettit scans the silent audience, who are trying to manage their glasses of wine or beer in one hand and finger food (lobster grilled cheese, spanakopita, cornmeal muffin, or slider) in the other. He moves his gaze by each face, attempting to lock eyes with each of the people who have come here tonight to watch him soup. Because we ALL soup.

Chef Pettit is a proud Torontonian. He is, among other things, the founder of the Rock Lobster restaurants and creator of Matty’s Seafood, a line of classic seafood dishes and comfort food now sold in Sobey’s and other major grocery stores across Canada and the US. He has a classic Torontonian come-up story: he started from the bottom (doing pop-up events wherever he could around Toronto and the GTA) and now he’s here: at the Campbell’s Cantina in 501 Queen West.

Pettit’s demo is about showcasing two things: first, that weeknight dinners can be delicious, fast, and healthy with Campbell’s soups and soup mixes as a base; and second, that every culture has soup as a staple: we all soup.

We nom on Thai Chicken and Rice Khao Soi, which is Pettit’s take on the delicious, creamy comfort food from Chang Mai. Using Campbell’s Thai Chicken and Rice soup mix as a base, Pettit stirs in coconut milk, chicken, garlic and shallots, lime juice, mushrooms, curry powder, brown sugar, and chicken and lets it simmer for about five minutes. While we wait for the Khao Soi to cook through, Pettit moves to the second prep station to prepare Creamy Tomato Black Bean Taco soup, which uses – you guessed it – Campbell’s Creamy Tomato soup as a base with 1/2 cup of black beans, cumin and chilli powder stirred in and cooked until hot. He tops this with nacho matchsticks and a touch of sour cream and bowls the Khao Soi with some fresh rice noodles at the bottom and a mountain of crispy rice noodles on top. The result is delicious, and cooking both takes less than ten minutes.

Why do I know the details of this demo so well, you ask? Well, partially because you can get all these quick and yummy recipes on the Cantina website, but also because I, Tara Mahoney, participated in the demos as one of Pettit’s sous-chefs. I was tasked with he V IMPORTANT and DIFFICULT jobs of dumping in the pre-chopped and measured ingredients into the soup pot. Pretty impressive, right?

The best part of all of this Cantina business is that you can have the opportunity to see Chef Pettit’s demos (and potentially have the opportunity to perform the difficult task of sous-chefing) this weekend between 12 to 1pm and 6 to 7pm. Sample four delicious soups for FREE at the Cantina by Campbell’s in 501 Queen West. If you put a sticker on the mosaic art piece, Campbell’s will donate a can of soup to the Toronto Food Bank. Help them reach their goal of 15,000 cans, and enjoy some free soup while you’re at it. The Cantina is open this weekend from 11am to 7pm until Sunday February 21.