Put everything down. Make this soup. Now.
It is that good. In fact, it is a fantastic soup—rich, umami-packed, beautiful in the bowl.
The most important factor with this soup is, of course, its full flavor. A close second is its absolute beauty. The soup shimmers in the bowl–red tomato disperses itself across the surface of the soup interrupted only by gleaming drops of quality olive oil and butter.
This is an interestingly-spiced soup, too. As you look at the ingredient list for this soup (below), you may be surprised to find caraway seeds and dill listed. The caraway and dill give this soup has a kind of Eastern European vibe.
Here’s an interesting bit of trivia about caraway. In Germanic folklore, caraway seeds were believed to protect children from witches when placed under the child’s bed? Who knew?
This recipe is adapted from Joshua McFadden’s Grains For Every Season. The cookbook is available through your local bookstore or on Amazon here.
Here is the recipe as I prepared it in my kitchen.
Mushroom, Potato and Wild Rice Soup
Ingredients
- 2/3 C. uncooked wild rice (I used black rice)
- Kosher salt
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 pound thinly-sliced mushrooms (I used cremini)
- 1/4 t. dried chile flakes
- Freshly-ground black pepper
- 4 T. unsalted butter
- 1 leek (sliced into 1/8 inch rounds--white and pale green parts only--about 1 1/3 C.)
- 3 garlic cloves (minced)
- 3 T. tomato paste
- 1 T. sweet smoked paprika
- 1/4 t. caraway seeds (lightly crushed)
- 1 quart vegetable broth
- 2 medium Yukon Gold potatoes (diced)
- Small handful thyme sprigs
- 2 four-inch sprigs rosemary
- 1 C. heavy cream
- 1/4 C. chopped fresh dill (or to taste)
Directions
- Step 1 Prepare the wild rice. I used black rice. All my regular markets were out of wild rice. The black rice proved to be a good substitute, but I’m anxious to try the wild rice in my next batch of soup. Cover the rice with water to about 3-4 inches. Add about 1 t. salt and bring the water to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer and cover. Cook for about 45 minutes. Drain. Set aside.
- Step 2 Put olive oil in your soup pot over medium heat. Toss mushrooms with chile flakes and salt and pepper. Sauté mushrooms in small batches in oil until they are a bit crispy on both sides. Remove the mushrooms from the pan and set aside.
- Step 3 Add butter to soup pan you used to sauté the mushrooms. Sauté the leek in the butter/oil mixture. You want the leek slices to be soft. Add garlic and cook briefly. Add the tomato paste, smoked paprika and caraway seeds to the mixture. Stir and cook this mixture for about 5 minutes. The tomato paste will darken in color in the step.
- Step 4 Add vegetable broth, potato, thyme and rosemary to the soup mixture. Simmer until the potato pieces are tender. This will take about 20 minutes. Remove the thyme and rosemary sprigs from the soup. Discard.
- Step 5 Add cream, mushrooms and drained rice to the soup. Simmer for another 15 minutes or so. You want the soup to thicken a bit. (If your soup becomes too thick, thin it with more broth or cream.)
- Step 6 Serve hot sprinkled with dill to your taste.
