Soup Sunday: Wild Mushroom and Rice Soup

Over the past year I have made a few variations of mushroom soup, including a creamy pureed mushroom soup (never named it!) and mushroom, potato, smoked Gouda chowder. Last weekend I wanted to make a mushroom soup with rice in it, so I did a quick search on the internet.

I decided to us this recipe for mushroom and wild rice soup as my inspiration. My major dilemma was that I could not find wild rice in my market! I looked everywhere (how annoying that they have rice in 2 different sections) and had to settle on a box of long grain mixed with wild rice...I threw away the seasoning packet it came with. My adaptation of the recipe is below:

Ingredients

• 1 c cooked rice (wild preferred, I used a mix)
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 1.5 c mushrooms, chopped; I used a mix of white and shiitake mushrooms
• 1/2 c dry white wine
• 4 c chicken broth (or vegetable broth for a vegetarian version)
• 1 c light cream
• 2 pinches dried thyme
• Salt and pepper
• Optional: black truffle oil for drizzling before serving

Directions

• Heat butter in a large pot
• Add onions and celery; saute 5 minutes until tender
• Add mushrooms, saute 5 minutes
• Add white wine and cook until absorbed, about 4-5 minutes
• Add broth, thyme, pepper; bring to a steady simmer for 20 minutes
• Stir in cream; season with salt if needed. Bring to a simmer for a few minutes before serving. Drizzle with truffle oil for serving.

This soup had a great earthy flavor, and while I liked it with the rice I used, I think it would be even better with all wild rice.