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Kathleen O'Conner coos and clasps her hands in excitement as the cook brings a quart of hot soup out of the kitchen at the Bulgarian-Macedonian center in West Homestead.

"It doesn't get any fresher than this, and I know everything is done with the utmost care," O'Conner says. "It's not like any canned soup I've bought."

O'Conner, of Lincoln Place, has been buying soup for four years from the Bulgarian-Macedonian National Educational and Cultural Center. The center sells 14 Bulgarian soups-to-go every Saturday morning, an event known as the Soup Sega, which means Soup Now!

The homemade soup has attracted as many as 300 customers on a single Saturday. Five or six types of soup are served fresh from the pot; the rest have been cooked and frozen. All 14 varieties of soup on the weekly menu are made from traditional Bulgarian recipes.

"The soups are old recipes of my mother's and all the other immigrants that came from Bulgaria," says Patricia French, 74, president of the cultural center. "I grew up on the Chicken with Dumpling, the Lentil and the Balkan Bean."

Fred Orlansky of Squirrel Hill says he's been coming to the Sega once a month for six years because "the soup's delicious and the people are nice."

He usually stocks up on the Rhodope Cabbage Tomato, a soup that he says has a "very nice finish to it."

The soups are sold by the quart in microwaveable containers and can be frozen for as long as six months. Each plastic tub contains enough soup for two meals or four first-course servings.

"This is perfect for today's society," says Soup Sega chef Angel Roy, 39. "With families on the go, people don't have time to cook. People want to eat well, but eat quickly."

Roy is the cook in charge of the weekly Soup Sega. She begins cooking five or six types of soup at 7:30 a.m. on Saturdays. She makes between 50 and 70 quarts that will be served that morning, or will be frozen and served the next week. Occasionally, a few volunteers drop in to help Roy chop onions or stir the soup.

"We try to keep the soups low-salt, lowfat," she says. By request, she can make soups that are free of lactose or gluten for people with specific dietary requirements.

Roy purchases fresh vegetables each week and specialty ingredients, such as lutenitza, a popular Bulgarian pepper relish, from the Restaurant Depot and Salonika Imports, both in the Strip District.

Roy tenders many of the soups -- a process of adding sour cream or egg in the last 10 minutes -- to give them a creamy finish. First, she adds small ladlefuls of hot soup to the egg mixture to bring the cold egg to a medium temperature. Then, she slowly pours the egg mixture back into the soup, stirring so it doesn't curdle.

The Sega soups have been named for the Bulgarian region in which they are popular. Soups that originated from the southwest Pirin region tend to have a lot of mint while soups from the mountainous Rhodopes region use a lot of potatoes and cabbage.

In the future, members at the Bulgarian-Macedonian cultural center hope to offer a soup delivery service and to build an industrial-size kitchen within five years.

The Sega is the primary fund-raiser for the center, generating an average of $13,500 each year. It not only financially supports the center, but also follows the center's mission to preserve Bulgarian culture.

"It's been a godsend," French says. "It's paid a lot of our bills and a lot of our operating costs. It's been very successful, and we hope it continues."

Soup Sega recipes

Chef Angel Roy shared several recipes that she cooks for the Soup Sega.

Pirin Tomato Mushroom Soup

• 1 pound mushrooms, chopped
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 quarts water
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 (15 ounces) can crushed tomatoes
• Salt, to taste
• 1/2 cup minced celery
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon dried mint
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice

In a soup pot, saute the mushrooms in the butter. Add 2 quarts water.

Dissolve the flour in 2 tablespoons cold water to create a slurry. Stir into the soup. Add the crushed tomatoes, salt and chopped celery. Boil for about 5 to 10 minutes. Stir in the black pepper and parsley. Remove from the heat and stir in mint and lemon. Stir and cover. Makes 6 servings.

Rhodope Cabbage Tomato Soup

• 1 head cabbage, chopped
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 cups tomato sauce
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 (28 ounces) can diced tomatoes
• 1 1/2 quarts water
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1/2 cup sour cream

In a soup pot, combine the cabbage, butter, tomato sauce, salt, sugar, tomatoes and water. Simmer for 1 hour or until the cabbage is cooked.

In a bowl, beat the egg and sour cream together. Slowly whisk some of the broth to the sour cream mixture until it is hot. Then, stirring constantly, slowly pour the mixture into the soup pot.

Makes 6 servings.

Zucchini Cream Soup

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 zucchini, grated
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 quart water
• 1/2 cup cream of wheat (farina), uncooked
• 1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice, or to taste

In a soup pot, heat the oil, then saute the zucchini, salt and garlic over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add the water and bring to a boil. Add the cream of wheat slowly, stirring constantly to prevent lumps. Cook until the cream of wheat is done, for about 15 minutes. Add the dill.

In a bowl, mix the egg and yogurt. Slowly add some of the hot soup to the yogurt mixture to raise its temperature. Stirring constantly, add the mixture to the soup slowly to prevent clumping. Cook for 5 minutes. Add the lemon juice. Serve hot or cold.

Makes 6 servings.

Pirin White Bean Soup

• 1 pound dried great Northern beans
• Water
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 cup canned diced tomatoes
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried mint

Soak the beans overnight in water to cover. Drain and rinse.

In a soup pot, cover the beans with fresh cold water. Bring to a boil, then add the remaining ingredients. Cook until the beans are done, for about 1 hour. Adjust the seasonings to taste.

Makes 6 servings.

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