 | Hearty Chicken Wild Rice SoupThe epitome of northwoods Minnesota cooking, primal style. This creamy, delicious soup is perfect to warm you up on a cold winter night. |
Ingredients
| For Chicken Stock: Make your own stock - directions here: Chicken Stock Soup Base Recipe Alternative: 8-10 cans chicken stock | For finishing Soup: 2-3 pieces of celery 1 stick butter 1-2 cups Wild Rice (the longer and darker the better) 1/2 tsp. white pepper 1 pint heavy cream 1/2 - 1 cup white wine (to taste) Salt (to taste) 1lb + cooked chicken meat | Optional: Parsnips Rutabaga Carrots Mushrooms
Serves: 8-10 people (or 2 people with lots of leftovers!) |
Directions
To make soup:
Heat stock to simmer, add wild rice to stock mix, stir. Rice will take 1-2 hours to cook. Your goal is that the rice cracks and looks a bit like a split hot-dog bun, if the majority of the rice is curled up it has cooked too long. Some people prefer harder or softer rice, try out different cooking times and see what you think.
When rice just starts to split or soften, add diced celery and any optional veggies, wine, and white pepper. The vegetables usually take about 30 minutes to soften, this should be enough time for the rice to finish.
Stir every 10 minutes or so until rice is cooked, make sure to scrape the pot to make sure rice is not stuck/burning at the bottom.
Cut up chicken (careful to remove all fat and bones, especially those tiny ribs!) and add meat to stock. You can use a rotisserie chicken from the store to be fast or bone your own bone-in pieces for best flavor. Pre-cooked chicken or frozen, cooked is also an option!
Turn heat down to low, add butter and cream. Heat thoroughly but do not boil. Salt to taste. Turn off heat and let sit for 5 minutes.
Notes: This soup actually tastes fantastic (if not better) the next day - save uneaten portions in the refrigerator or freeze for later use.
Enjoy!