<Partners In Health>

On Sunday, September 30th, we opened our doors for the Partners In Health 20th anniversary celebration. It was a time for the PIH founders, Paul Farmer, Ophelia Dahl, Tom White, Jim Kim and Todd McCormick, and friends, to raise a glass to the organization’s first 20 years, and to raise funds for the next 20.

The first course was a toast to September--farm tomatoes in an old fashioned tomato and bread soup garnished with a bit of corn and crab; the main course was our classic Rialto steak with arugula salad, Parmigiano Reggiano and lemon; and we finished with a rich chocolate cake topped with crunchy praline.

There was a warm feeling in the room during dinner, like a family gathering, with people moving from table to table and chatting, but when the auction started, people got serious. They recognized that PIH is a special organization, one worth investing in.

Partners In Health’s model uses comprehensive and community-based care to treat infectious disease and poverty simultaneously. The work they do is difficult—medically, politically, socially and financially, and at the core, their success has to do with something very simple, hospitality. In their words, it means “Doing whatever it takes. Just as we would do if a member of our own family—or we ourselves—were ill.” www.pih.org

At Rialto we ’re inspired by PIH—they have so much to teach us. It’s very simple. It’s hospitality. It’s treating everyone who comes to us not as a stranger, but as a member of the Rialto family.

Hospitality: a little fire, a little food, and an immense quiet. — Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

Tomato-bread soup

Serve the soup warm or at room temperature. It can be gussied up with garnishes like corn and crab, but I think it’s best unadorned. At family meal we serve leftover soup over spaghetti with grated parmesan cheese.

Soak 2 cups cubed crust less day-old rustic white bread in water.

Heat 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil in a large sauce pan over medium-low heat. Add 1 1/2 cups diced white onions, 1/2 cup diced carrots, 1/2 cup diced celery stalks, 3 tablespoons chopped garlic and 2 teaspoon diced hot peppers, (optional). Season with Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper and cook for 10 minutes, or until tender.

Add 5 pounds chopped peeled tomatoes, a bay leaf and basil stems and cook for 35 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning, adding a pinch of sugar if necessary. Remove and discard the bay leaf and basil stems. Cool. Puree in the food processor with the 1/2 cup chopped basil leaves and return to a large clean saucepan over low heat.

Squeeze the water from the bread and crumble it into the tomato base. Using a whisk, beat the bread into the base and cook 10 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings, sugar, salt and pepper. Serve warm, or at room temperature with a fresh drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.