This is one of them. This Chicken and Wild Rice Soup from our Savoring the Seasons cookbook is so perfect in so many ways. Ultimate comfort food? Check. Tons of delicious leftovers? Check. Uses up all sorts of Thanksgiving-y foods? Check. Perfect food for a chilly fall night? Check. Taking dinner to a friend? Having company over? Sunday dinner? Weeknight meal? Check, check, check, check. This is a recipe you need in your arsenal.
To make it, you’ll need 5 tablespoons of butter, an onion, some garlic, carrots, baby portabella mushrooms, celery, poultry seasoning, a jar of marinated artichoke hearts, some chicken broth, wild rice, about a pound of cooked chicken cut into bite-sized pieces (a rotisserie chicken works great), kosher salt, freshly ground pepper, flour, and milk. Whew. That’s a lot of ingredients. The good news is that you probably have a lot of these things already lying around your house, especially the closer we get to Thanksgiving (and, in fact, this is a great way to use up leftover turkey–just use it instead of the chicken.) Because this soup takes a little extra time to cook, you can save time by doing a lot of the legwork earlier in the day–add the onion, garlic, carrots, celery, mushrooms, and poultry seasoning to a large ziploc bag, the chopped chicken in a smaller bag,
and after you chop the artichoke hearts, you can return them to the jar they came in. That way, when dinnertime rolls around, it comes together in just a few minutes and then it can simmer away and you don’t even have to think about it. When you’re ready to start cooking, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a large stockpot over medium heat (set the rest of the butter aside for later). Add onion, garlic, carrots, mushrooms, celery, and poultry seasoning and sauté until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add artichoke hearts and chicken broth and bring to a boil over high heat. Add rice and chicken, reduce heat, and simmer for 50-60 minutes or until the rice is tender. When the rice is tender, remove from heat and add salt and pepper. When the soup has about 10 minutes left, melt the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Whisk in the flour to make a roux. Slowly add the milk,
about 1/2 cup at a time, whisking constantly to remove any lumps, until smooth and thickened to the consistency of a thin pudding. Slowly whisk the milk mixture into the soup and stir until combined. Simmer 4-5 minutes or until slightly thickened and serve.
