Soup's On!

I first had wild rice soup years ago from an upscale grocery store who also had a small restaurant. After they started selling it in their frozen section, I think I came across a similar recipe online and tweaked it until it seemed just right. It has become a tried and true family favorite and would be perfect on a FRIGID day like today!

Wild Rice Soup

12 tbl butter

2 tbl minced onion

1 cup flour*

6 cups of chicken broth

about 2 chicken breasts, cooked and diced

1 cup finely grated carrots (I buy the prepacked shredded carrots)

6 tbl chopped slivered almonds, optional

1 tsp salt

2 cups half & half

4 tbl dry sherry (I use the cheap cooking sherry, white wine would also work)

4 cups cooked wild rice

Cook wild rice according to package directions (I use Gibbs farm rice, which has to be cooked about an hour and a half, but you could use any kind of wild rice) and set aside. Dry roast almonds in a saute pan to lightly toast them, set aside. Melt butter in a large pot and saute onion until tender. Blend in flour and cook for a minute or two. Gradually add broth and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture comes to a boil. Boil 1 minute.

Stir in rice, meat, carrots, almonds and salt. Simmer 5 minutes. Blend in half and half and sherry. Heat to serving temperature. Makes about 12 cups.

My notes: I often make the rice ahead of time and throw the cooked rice in the freezer. This soup also freezes well, so I often make a big batch and freeze half for another day. The original recipe had ham in it, but we found that we preferred chicken. I bake the chicken and season it with olive oil, a little salt, pepper and garlic powder.

*Can use 1/2 the amount called for for flour and substitute with potato starch (for teh recipe above, use 1/2 cup potato starch instead of 1 cup flour). I just made it this way for someone with a gluten allergy and it turned out exactly the same!