Mushroom Soup

I'm not crazy about the wintertime. I don't mind snow so much but I *really* hate the cold.

The only two redeeming things about wintertime are rich hot soups and all kinds of comfort food. Last year I was off my soup game. I'm not sure why really. I was distracted sure. Between farm work and the ice I just hadn't fixed soup like I'd wanted to.

This year I was determined not to have that happen again and have made soup frequently. Lentil and cabbage soup are probably my favorites. Tortellini soup is right up there and of course there's always chicken soup. And here in New England there are all kinds of chowders.

And then there's this.

Wild Rice and Mushroom soup
I made this a week or so ago and I swear it's just about the best soup ever. I'd made a vegetarian Bolognese with mushroom duxelles and I had some leftover mushrooms. Here, loosely adapted from a recipe by Martha Rose Shulman appearing in the NY Times:

Ingredients (serves 2):

• 1/2 oz. dried porcini mushrooms
• 2 T olive oil
• Half a medium onion, chopped
• One carrot, sliced
• One celery rib, sliced
• 8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup Minnesota wild rice
• 1/3 cup white wine
• 2 cups chicken broth (no salt added, I used homemade)
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 t thyme, 1/2 t parsley, 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• Cider vinegar, to taste, a t or two

It looks like a long list of ingredients but this is easy. I don't do anything that's hard.

Procedure:

• Soak the dried porcini mushrooms in 1/3 cup boiling water from a kettle for 30 minutes or so. Strain and reserve the liquid for later. Some people run the liquid through some cheesecloth or a coffee filter. I don't bother.
• Heat the oil in a saucepan. Add the onions, carrots and celery and sauté until they soften, maybe 5 minutes.
• Add the sliced mushrooms to the saucepan. With a pinch of salt. Cook them over high heat until they start to soften, maybe 3 minutes or so. Reduce the heat and add the garlic. When the garlic is fragrant, after a minute or two, add the thyme and the parsley. Stir to combine.
• Add the wine and reduce to at least half over high heat. Add the reserved porcini mushroom water. Add the chicken stock, water, and bay leaf, bring to a boil.
• Add the re-hydrated porcini mushrooms, wild rice, bring back to a boil reduce to a simmer. Simmer for an hour, covered.
• Add the peas.

Season the soup to your liking. I splash in the cider vinegar at serving time. Best soup I've had in a very long time!