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(Food #7: April 30, 2000, continued)

...How about a light cream soup?
   Another pretty picture in the Indian Harvest catalog shows a pure white bowl filled with a faintly pink soup. It's got rice and toasty croutons, and it's called "Cream of Wild Rice Soup." The name was just right; I'd make some.
   I'd never made a cream soup before, but I'd eaten lots of oyster stew, so I knew I'd probably like the end result. I started this soup by making Chef Paul Prudhomme's Oyster Stew (page 197, Chef Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen) and serving it to a friend for breakfast (no kidding, it's great for breakfast.) It was an excellent first effort.
   Next I bought some wild rice at the local supermarket and made up a small batch. Whoa! This could take some getting used to. It tasted a little like grass clippings—not bad, just not good enough to base a soup on. But I loved the idea and the name, so I kept going. In about two test batches I zeroed in on a recipe that I really liked and that was still easy to make.
Chef Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen
La. Kitchen
 Chef Paul Prudhomme,
Tom Jimison
   This soup is a beautiful pale pink, with very subtle flavors—not even remotely like taco soup. Even though it has complex, subtle flavors, it is very filling.
    Wild Rice and Onion, etc., Soup
    This recipe makes about four generous servings of creamy soup.

    In a skillet, melt 1 tsp. of sweet butter. Add:

  • 1/2-tsp. minced garlic
  • 1 tsp. coarsely-chopped pecans

    Sauté the garlic and pecans until the pecans are browned (wait for the toasty aroma). Add:

  • 1 scallion, green and white parts, chopped
  • 1/4 small white onion, diced
  • 1 or 2 small shallots, diced
  • 6 mushrooms, thinly-sliced
  • 1/2-tsp. cracked black pepper
  • 1 tsp. parsley

    Sauté the vegetables until the onions are transparent, but not yet brown. Add:

  • 1 cup chicken broth or stock

    Bring the mixture almost to a simmer. Then, add slowly, stirring as you add:

  • 2 cups of whole milk

    When the soup just comes to a simmer, add:

  • 1 tsp. sea salt
  • 1/2-cup cooked wild rice or wild rice/brown rice mixture
  • (optional, but great) 1/2-cup small scallops

    Continue stirring until the soup simmers again. Remove from heat and serve with garnish of parsley and toasted bagel croutons.

   I used a mixture of half wild rice and half brown rice in this soup, because I felt the wild rice was a little too characteristic for the rest of the flavors in the soup. You decide.
   I tried using shrimp instead of scallops, but there was no significant flavor improvement. Oysters would be great in this soup, though.

Caprial's Soup and Sandwiches
Caprial's
 Caprial Pence,
Mark Davis
Don't forget the bean soup
   Two Thanksgivings ago I published the recipe for my delicious 'Cajun Bean Soup. It's still available in our Library under "backissues."
   Our local bookstores are usually very well supplied with "soup and sandwich" or "soup and salad" cookbooks. Two good ones are Caprial's Soup and Sandwiches and Dairy Hollow House Soup and Bread. The recipes in these two excellent books tend to range from very creative to unusual, always flavorful, and very good looking. Click on any of the book jackets, above, to go to Amazon.com, our online bookstore affiliate, for a review, or to order a book.

Starting Point
   In my recipes, remember that the recipe's just the starting point. There are endless subtle changes or substitutions you can make that, in effect, make it a new recipe each time. I hope you enjoy your experimenting as much as I do.
enjoy
Dairy Hollow House Soup and Bread
Dairy Hollow House
 Crescent Dragonwagon,
Paul Hoffman

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