Wild Rice and Mushroom Soup

Continuing our love affair with mushrooms this week, our soup contains wild rice for fiber and nutrition.

My market had a special on the standard 10oz package of button mushrooms. They were selling them for 3/$5.00 which is $1.66 a package. That's a substantial savings and we need 3 packages for all the recipes for this weeks menu. I also bought a package of Shiitake mushrooms just to add a little wild mushroom flavor.

Yesterday, using my egg slicer, I went through those 3 packages in 5 minutes.

I love that tip. Would have taken me 30 minutes to do it by hand. I sat and watched Martha while I cut the mushrooms. Using about 2 tablespoons of olive oil and a huge chicken fryer, I sauteed the mushrooms until the edges were browned and divided up the proceeds into 4 sandwich zip bags, labeled them and through them in the freezer. Now I have cooked mushrooms ready to go.

Wild Rice and Mushroom Soup
I used pureed cottage cheese for the cream in this recipe, but you could use a fat-free half & half. Prep and Cook Time: 1 1/2 hours (due to the 45 minute cooking time for the wild rice). Notes: I used a premeasured package of long grain and wild rice and shorten the cooking time to 30 minutes.

Total: 1 hour, 30 minutes
Yield: Makes 8 servings
Ingredients

* 3/4 cup wild rice
* 1 tablespoon salt
* 1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms
* 2 tablespoons butter at room temperature, divided
* 4 ounces pancetta, finely chopped (see Notes)
* 8 ounces button mushrooms, finely chopped
* 1 leek, halved, rinsed, and white and light green parts thinly sliced
* 2 tablespoons flour
* 1/2 cup dry white wine
* 4 cups reduced-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
* 3 tablespoons minced flat-leaf parsley
* 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
* 2/3 cup pureed cottage cheese or fat-free half & half

Preparation

1. Put wild rice, salt, and 8 cups cold water in a medium pot. Bring to a boil, lower heat to maintain a steady simmer, and cook until rice is tender, about 45 minutes. Drain and set aside.

2. Meanwhile, put porcini in a small bowl and pour in 1 1/2 cups boiling water. Let sit until soft, about 15 minutes.

3. In a large pot, cook 1 tbsp. butter and pancetta over medium-high heat until the meat renders some of its fat and turns a lighter pink. Add button mushrooms and leek. Cook, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms give off their liquid, about 10 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, lift porcini from liquid with a slotted spoon (reserving liquid), chop finely, and add to pot.

5. Sprinkle vegetables and pancetta with flour and cook, stirring constantly, until flour starts to stick to the bottom of the pot (scrape it up as much as possible while stirring). Add wine, reserved liquid from soaking porcini (pouring slowly so as to leave any grit behind), and broth. Bring to a boil, then lower heat to maintain a steady simmer and cook 15 minutes.

6. Add reserved wild rice to vegetable mixture and cook 10 minutes. Stir in dairy and cook until hot, about 1 minute. Divide soup among 8 bowls and serve hot. Can dollop some lite sour cream on top before serving.