comfort food at its finest

With the exception of mashed potatoes (which will meet their demise today because I am done with them), we have finally finished up our Thanksgiving leftovers! Of course, I’ve never met a bird carcass I didn’t instantly want to boil down with onions, celery, and carrots so naturally last weekend I made some turkey stock. It was the perfect opportunity to finally make the Creamy Turkey & Wild Rice soup from The Farm Chicks in the Kitchen.

I apologize for the not-so-great photo, but it’s been dark out every time I’ve eaten it so I just couldn’t get a great one. Trust me — it’s super yummy!

As with any recipe, I changed it up a little. Instead of chicken broth I used my turkey stock and I did not add any bacon. I don’t think I would in the future, either; this soup is perfect as-is. Because I don’t regularly keep wild rice in my pantry, at least not in bulk, I just used a box of Uncle Ben’s rice without the seasoning packet. It was more than the 3/4 cup the recipe called for, and maybe it was a little too much, but for the sake of ease, I’d probably do the same thing next time. I’m positive that if you used chicken instead of turkey this soup would taste just as good. It really is the perfect comfort food for a cold winter’s night! Here is the recipe:

Creamy Turkey and Wild Rice Soup

5 Tbsp. butter

1/3 c. diced celery

1/2 c. diced carrot)

1/2 c. diced onion

5 c. turkey broth (the original recipe calls for chicken broth

1 box of Uncle Ben’s wild rice (do not use seasoning packet), or 3/4 c. wild rice

2 c. diced cooked turkey

6 Tbsp. all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp. poultry seasoning

1 1/4 c. half-and-half

1/4 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. black pepper

Melt 1 Tbsp. butter in a large stock pot over medium heat. Saute carrots, onions, and celery until soft (about 5 min.) Add the turkey broth, rice, and turkey. Bring to a boil then lower the heat, cover, and simmer for about 40 min., stirring occasionally.

To make the cream sauce, melt the remaining butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Mix the flour and poultry seasoning together in a bowl and then add this to the butter. Stir the mixture constantly for about 1 min. until the butter and flour are well-combined. Slowly add the half-and-half a little at a time, constantly stirring until there are no lumps and the mixture is slightly thickened. Stir the sauce into the soup. *In the original recipe, at this point you can also add 2 Tbsp. white wine and 3 slices of bacon that has been cooked and crumbled. I’m not sure either are really necessary.* Salt and pepper the soup to your taste and serve.