Wild Rice and Mushroom Soup.- Warm, comforting and incredibly flavorful...

Wild Rice and Mushroom Soup.-  With the cooler weather this lovely soup is excellent to warm and comfort your family. Not only is this a very tasty soup but contains many nutrients like protein, manganese, phosphorous, magnesium and zinc, it has more protein than other forms of rice and as much fiber as brown rice. This is one of my favorites!

It's a flexible recipe since you can exchange ingredients to what you have on hand or what is in season or even use dry ingredients! This can be made vegetarian and vegan too! 

To prepare this soup you will need:

For the rice:

Wild Rice

Salt

Garlic Cloves

Fresh Thyme Sprigs

Water

For the Soup:

Dried Porcini Mushrooms (or other dried mushrooms)

Butter (or olive oil or other cooking fat)

Fresh Mushrooms (any type you like)

Shallots

Garlic

Tomato Paste

All Purpose Flour

Vegetable Stock (or what you have on hand)

Dry White Wine

Heavy Cream - Half & Half or your choice 

Soy Sauce or Worcestershire

For the Parsley Butter: 

Butter (can be vegan or your choice)

Salt

Ground Black Pepper

Fresh Parsley Leaves

PREPARATION:

1-  First prepare the rice. Combine salt, thyme, garlic and water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil and add the wild rice. Lower the temperature a little and cook for 30 - 35 minutes. Remove the thyme sprigs and garlic, drain the rice and set aside.

2-  Place the dried mushrooms in a small bowl, pour boiling water over them and allow to soak and soften. If they're large, once they soften you can drain and chop in smaller pieces. Be sure to save the mushrooms soaking liquid for use a little later on.

3-  Now add the fresh mushrooms to a soup pot and brown them with a little butter or some oil until browned. Add the garlic, shallots and tomato paste, saute for a little while and then you can add the dried mushrooms.

4-  Add the flour to the vegetables and mix until a dark fond is created at the bottom of the pot.

5-  Now add the wine (if you are not using you can add some stock) to deglaze the bottom by scraping the fond.

6-  Add the stock and mushroom soaking liquid to the soup pot, bring to a boil and then simmer for 15 minutes.

7-  While you are simmering the soup you can go ahead and make the Parsley Butter if you are using it.

8-  Now you can add the wild rice and cook for an additional 10 minutes. Finally, remove from the heat and add the heavy cream and soy sauce to your taste.

9-  Finally, serve immediately with a dollop of the Parsley Butter along with some great crusty Artisan Bread.

NOTE:  If you store any leftovers in the fridge you will see that the soup will thicker so when you use the soup, add some stock to give it the texture you like.

If desired, you can add more ingredients like potatoes, carrots, peas, shredded chicken, etc.