Wild Rice and Mushroom Soup ..... Another great recipe for cool weather!

Wild Rice and Mushroom Soup

We stopped by a restaurant one Fall day after putting our boat in storage for the winter season. The restaurant special of the day was a great soup. I commented to the waitress and she replied, would you like the recipe. Well who would deny that offer?

Ingredients:

3/4 cup wild rice (uncooked)

1 Tablespoon salt

1 ounce dried or 4 ounces fresh porcini mushrooms

5 Tablespoons butter, divided

4 ounces bacon, finely chopped

8 ounces mushrooms, finely chopped

1 leek, halved, rinsed, and white and light green parts thinly sliced

2 Tablespoons flour

1/2 cup dry white wine

4 cups reduced-sodium chicken or vegetable broth

3 Tablespoons minced flat leaf parsley

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2/3 cup milk

***

Directions:

Put wild rice and 8 cups water in a medium pot. Bring to a boil, add salt and lower heat to maintain a steady simmer, and cook until rice is tender, about 45 minutes. Drain and set aside.

***

Meanwhile if using dried porcini mushrooms, reconstitute with 1 1/2 cups boiling water. Let set until soft, about 15 minutes.

***

In a smaller skillet, cook bacon until crisp. Remove bacon from skillet to a paper towel to drain. Remove all fat from skillet. Add 1 Tablespoon of olive oil, saute button mushrooms and leek. Cook stirring occasionally, until mushrooms give off their liquid, about 10 minutes.

***

Meanwhile, lift porcini from liquid with a slotted spoon (reserving liquid), chop finely and add to pot.

***

Sprinkle vegetables and bacon with flour and cook, stirring constantly, until flour starts to stick to the bottom of the pot (scrape up as much as possible while stirring). Add wine, reserved liquid from soaking porcini (pouring slowly as to leave the grit behind), and broth. Bring to a boil, then lower heat to maintain a steady simmer and cook 15 minutes.

***

Meanwhile, combine remaining 4 Tablespoons butter, the parsley, and pepper. Set aside.

***

Add reserved rice to the vegetable mixture and cook 10 minutes. Stir in milk and cook until hot, about 1 minute. Divide soup among 8 bowls and serve hot, with a dallop of parsley butter on each serving. Serves 8