Comfort. (Chicken and Wild Rice Soup)

Moving is tough anytime you do it. And after a week of packing, a week of driving and a long weekend of moving into temporary housing combined with house hunting for a permanent residence… let’s just say that by last night we were dead dog tired. And in need of a comforting meal. So we hit a local market and less than two hours later, were enjoying the following Chicken and Wild Rice Soup.

Homemade soup is one of those things we often forget about. It really isn’t all that difficult and the rewards can last for days.

Last night’s soup hit the spot. Tonight we had it as an equally comforting meal after my first day at my new office. Tomorrow I’ll freeze single portion sized zip-lock bags for emergency rations later this month.

I hope you give this one a try – or that it reminds you to whip up a batch of your favorite soup recipe the next time you need an easy and comforting meal.

Ingredients

• 1 Tbs olive oil
• ½ onion – rough chopped
• 3 large carrots – cut 2 in half; chop the remaining carrot into ¼ inch dice
• 3 stalks celery – cut 2 in half; chop the remaining celery stalk into ¼ inch dice
• 4 large or 6 small cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed (smash with the side of a large knife)
• 3 - 4 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 Tbs dried oregano
• 1 whole chicken – rinced, skin removed as best you can… don’t sweat the wings
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 3 cups water (or enough to almost cover chicken - see description below)
• 1 box Uncle Ben’s chicken and wild rice mix (not instant) (this part was pure accident – I didn’t see the rice I wanted so I bought a rice mix – the seasoning packet is a nice addition to the soup, and surprisingly does not make it salty)
• ¾ cups frozen peas
• 3 large mushrooms diced
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

In a medium to large stock pot:

• Heat oil
• Sauté onion until soft
• Add large pieces of carrot and celery (reserve the diced portion for later)
• Add garlic, fresh thyme and dried oregano
• Heat everything together, stirring occasionally for 3 – 5 minutes
• Add chicken, breast side up
• Add broth first and water – just up to the beginning of the breast portion. You don’t want to cover the entire bird
• Bring to boil
• Add seasoning packet and stir until dissolved.
• Drop heat to “low,” cover and simmer for 1 hour

After one hour:

• Remove chicken to shallow bowl and allow to cool
• Add rice, peas, diced carrots, celery and mushrooms to the broth mixture
• Bring broth mixture back to a boil and then drop heat to low again
• Cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Then turn off the heat and leave covered.

• By this time the chicken should be cool enough to work with; remove meat from bones and chop into bite-sized pieces.
• Add chicken to broth/rice/veg mixture. Stir well and serve.

Enjoy!