Home Cooks Online

Recipe by guest author, Heather Forsyth.

In my part of the world January is a challenging time to eat locally.  My calendar of what's available when shows me meat, mushrooms, eggs, pecans and spinach.  I'm feeling a little like a caveman with all the meat we've been eating lately, and I've had about all the souffles and spinach salads I can eat for awhile, too.  So I looked at the pound of beautiful shitake mushrooms I got through my local coop lately and hatched this recipe.

Wild Rice and Mushroom Soup

• 8 oz. (1/2 lb.) fresh mushrooms, preferably Shitake, sliced
  
• 2 green onions, sliced, both white and green parts
  
• 3 T. butter
  
• 3 T. flour
  
• 3 c. vegetable or chicken broth, maybe a little more
  
• 1/2 c. wild rice, or wild & brown rice mix (cooked)
  
• 1 c. cream, go as light or as heavy as your conscience or your waistline dictates
  
• 2 T. sherry, or white wine if you don't have sherry, but sherry really is the thing here

Saute the mushrooms and green onions in butter in a saucepan until tender.  Stir in the flour.  Add the broth gradually, stirring constantly.  Bring just to a boil, then reduce heat to low.  Stir in the wild rice, cream, sherry, and salt and pepper to taste.  Continue cooking until just heated through, stirring frequently.  Serves about 4.  (I happened to have some fresh chives so I sprinkled some on top for a pretty and tasty garnish.)

Note 1. Wild rice isn't really local (to me) but when I have to outsource, I try to make it something that packages simply and ships easily.  Rice is one of those cheat ingredients for me.  And cream of mushroom soup just doesn't have that stick to the ribs quality on its own without something like rice to give it some heft.  I think the woodsy flavor of wild rice goes especially well with the earthy, almost flowery flavor of shitakes.

Note 2. Vegetable broth is not all created equally.  Homemade is best, of course, but most people don't have the time or inclination for that.  If you can get it, the next best thing is "Better than Bouillon."  It comes in a jar.  It's sort of a thick paste, like miso, and you make broth with a ratio of about 1 tsp. to 1 c. water.  It is way, way better than those dried cube things.