Chicken and Wild Rice Soup Recipe by Mangia
Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
Chicken and rice soup is one thing. Chicken and wild rice soup is another. This is a wonderful winter soup-just the one for the holidays-and it can be made almost entirely in advance. All you will need to do before serving is combine the separate components, heat the soup through, and season it with fresh black pepper a seemingly innocent final touch that lends a sizable amount of warmth.
Ingredients
- 6 cups water
- 1 cup wild rice
- 1 small yellow onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 small carrot
- 2 celery stalks
- 1 medium Idaho potato
- 12 flat-leaf parsley sprigs
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 whole chicken breasts skinned and boned, from 1 ½ to 2 pounds
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, bring the water to a boil. Stir in the wild rice and simmer, covered, for about 45 minutes, or until cooked but not mushy. Drain and reserve.
- Peel, trim, and finely dice the onion, garlic, and carrot. Wash and trim the celery, leaving some of the greens; finely slice. Peel and dice the potato. Tie the sprigs of parsley together with a piece of kitchen twine.
- In a large heavy pot, briefly sauté the onion, garlic, carrot, celery, and potato in the olive oil over medium heat, stirring just to coat. Cover, reduce the heat to low, and sweat the vegetables for about 10 minutes.
- Add the chicken broth, thyme, salt, and parsley and bring the broth to a boil. Add the chicken breasts and cook, covered, over medium heat for 15 minutes.
- 5.Remove the chicken breasts, and while the soup continues cooking, shred the breasts with 2 forks into bite-sized pieces.
- Remove the parsley from the soup. Stir in the cooked wild rice and shredded chicken.
- In a small skillet, reduce the heavy cream over high heat by half.
- Add the reduced cream to the soup and cook over medium heat until just heated through. Add the fresh pepper and serve immediately.