what's cookin' wednesday - soup!

this storm front passing through means we have perfect soup-eating weather. justin is not generally a big fan of soup but when i told him that was what we were having and i offered him a chance to pick the theme, he agreed. his choice was wild rice so i made a chicken, mushroom, and wild rice soup fit for a king! we even served it in sourdough bread bowls. i didn't manage to take any pictures but i'll give you the recipe and then leave you with a few pics and links to some other soups that i've been coveting.

chicken, mushroom, and wild rice soup

1 cup wild rice
5 cups broth
1 lb chicken
1 cup mushrooms
1/2 cup carrots, chopped
1/2 cup celery, chopped
2/3 cup half and half
1/2 cup white wine
seasoning, to taste (i used sea salt, ground pepper, and trader joe's 21 seasoning salute)

to speed things up, i cooked the rice in the rice cooker. i had dried wild mushrooms (porcini, oyster, shitake, morels, brazilians, and ivory portabellas) that i reconstituted in hot water. drain the mushrooms and saute in the butter. after cooking the mushrooms for about 5 min, transfer to a bowl. add a little olive oil to the pan and season and cook the chicken. put the chicken, mushrooms, cooked rice carrots and celery in a stock pot. add the broth, half and half, and wine. i used beef broth and french onion soup. feel free to substitute veggie or chicken broth and any milk 1% or higher. i stirred together and added a little more seasoning and then let it simmer for a few minutes. it was heavenly in the bread bowls...

here are some more delicious soups, stews, and stoups (as rachel ray likes to call them).

french onion

split pea

eggplant and lentil stew with pomegranate molasses

tuscan stoup