Cream of Long Grain & Wild Rice Soup, Dash of Curry!

I love this photo of my dining room table bathed in warm sunlight on a winter day. I want to curl up on the window sill and take a nap. I would if I were a cat. Instead, I think I’ll have something else to keep me warm. A bowl of this wonderful cream soup. It’s elegant enough to serve on a Sunday dinner table, and hearty enough to keep you warm on this cold, cold January day.

The recipe for this soup is one that I adapted from Southern Living Christmas. It makes about 12 cups of soup. I often make this and put the leftovers in canning jars and put them in the freezer. All I have to do to reheat is to take the jar out of the freezer and let it thaw overnight in the refrigerator, but even that is unnecessary, you can just remove the screw off lid, and place the jar on a saucer, put in the microwave and reheat the soup.

To serve with the soup, I have included a beet salad recipe with raspberry vinaigrette. There will be another post featuring the best Galette de poire à la sauce Caramel, or known in English as pear Galette with caramel sauce, coming up right after this. You will find it very easy to make. This recipe is adapted from Neiman-Marcus.

Stay warm. Eat warm. Enjoy.

Cream of Long Grain & Wild Rice Soup

1 (8-ounce) package of (seasoned) Vigo Long Grain White & Wild Rice

1/4 cup butter

1 cup finely chopped onion

1/2 cup thinly sliced celery

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon dried chervil, or parsley

1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

6 cups chicken broth

2 cups half and half* see note below

2/3 cup heavy cream

Cook rice according to package directions. While the rice is cooking, melt the butter in a large Dutch oven. Add the onion, celery, salt, pepper, mustard powder, and parsley. Cook until the vegetables are tender.

Reduce the heat to medium-low. Add the flour, to the vegetable mixture, and cook for one minute, stirring constantly. Gradually whisk in the chicken broth, cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture has thickened. The soup will not thicken until it comes to a boil.

Stir the cooked rice into the chicken broth mixture and add *half and half and heavy cream. Cook until thoroughly heated, and thickened. Remove from the heat. Serve with a dash of curry or sherry. Makes 12 cups.

*I don’t usually have half and half in my fridge, but always have milk and heavy cream. Use can use 1 cup milk and 1 2/3 cup heavy cream. Never add it cold. Warm it slightly in the microwave before adding it to the soup mixture.

                       Citrusy Beet Salad with Baby Greens, Feta, Raspberry Vinaigrette

Add anything else you like to this salad. Oranges, toasted sliced almonds or pecans, grapes, or any other fruit you like and make this your own salad.

4 medium beets

Olive oil

6 cups baby salad greens

1 (8 ounce) container Feta cheese or goat cheese

2-3 tablespoons orange juice

2 tablespoons grated orange zest

Raspberry vinaigrette (recipe below)

Preheat the oven to 350º.

Wash the beets until all dirt is removed.

Cut the beet tops even with the beets, and trim the bottoms. Rub each beet with olive oil.

Place the trimmed beets on foil in an oven proof dish. Cover with foil and bake for 45-60 minutes or until the beets are tender when pierced with a cake tester or fork.

Remove from the oven to cool.

When ready to peel, put on rubber gloves, otherwise your hands will be stained deep red from the beet juice. Often the beet skin will peel right off, but if not, peel the beets by using a knife to cut as close to the meat as possible.

Cut the beets into slices or cut each beet into 4 wedges.

Salt to taste.

Prepare 4 salad plates by placing 1½ cups baby greens on each plate. Place the beet wedges or slices in the center of the greens. Crumble feta or goat cheese cut into cubes and distribute among the four salad plates. Drizzle the beets lightly with orange juice, and then drizzle with Raspberry Vinaigrette. Add a small amount of orange zest over each salad. Serve chilled.

Raspberry Vinaigrette:

I would like to tell you that I created this delicious recipe, but I didn’t. I’ve had it for so many years that I don’t remember where it came from, but it has added delicious flavor to many salads, and to many dinners in my personal chef business.

1/3 cup seedless raspberry preserves, or jam

¼ cup vegetable oil

4 teaspoons rice vinegar

4 teaspoons cider vinegar

1 tablespoon dry white wine

1 teaspoon Country Dijon Mustard

In a small bowl, mix the preserves, vinegars, white wine, and mustard. Slowly drizzle the oil into the vinegar mixture while whisking. Better yet, use a jar to mix the dressing and store in the refrigerator in the same jar. On occasion I don’t have any white wine open to use, so I substitute white wine vinegar.

Watch for this dessert in the next post. You don’t want to miss it!