Mushroom and Wild Rice Soup

A creamy, meatless, soup with mushrooms and wild rice. It's warm comfort food for a cold night.

Wild rice soup is a dish I learned about in Minnesota. It's perfect for wintertime because it's warm, creamy, hardy, and comforting. This is comfort food at it's best. Usually it's made with chicken but I used inexpensive mushrooms. Not only were the mushrooms less expensive than meat but I hoped they would help lower the calorie count of this creamy soup. I used real cream but you could lighten it more by using half and half or milk but I love the comfort and creaminess of the real stuff (and so does my husband the Minnesotan). This soup has great fiber from the wild rice which gives the soup a wonderful chewy component that makes it very satisfying. It's a meal of a soup. Add some crackers if you like and this soup will make you feel warm, full, and satisfied.

Warmup w/ Minnesotan #comfortfood Mushroom & #WildRiceSoup [Tweet this]

Mushroom and Wild Rice Soup

Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter
1 large onion, chopped
1 medium carrot, chopped
4 stalks celery, chopped
4 cups sliced mushrooms (about 20-30 mushrooms)
1/2 tsp Thyme
1/4 cup flour
4-6 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 cup dry wild rice, cooked until soft (about 3-4 cups cooked)
4 oz cream

Saute the vegetables in butter, in a large stock pot, until tender. Add the mushrooms and thyme and cook until the mushrooms soften. Sprinkle on some salt and pepper.

Stir in the flour and cook for a minute or two more to cook out the raw taste of the flour but not darken it at all. Then pour in 4 cups broth. Let the soup just come to a boil and reduce heat to simmer.

Add the cooked rice and allow the soup to simmer until thickened (add more broth if it looks too thick) then add cream. Heat through, taste for seasoning (add more salt, pepper, and/or thyme as needed), and remove from heat.

Serve immediately with crackers. Makes about 6 servings.

Enjoy.