“the pollen count has been wicked”

In the past week, Chicago has just exploded with Spring. Tulips are open and blooming in all the flower beds and the trees are filled with green buds and flowers. Beautiful, yes. Good for the allergies, no. {PS-Can anyone name the source of the post title quote?}

What started as a need to renew my one-Clartin a day habit has sorta transformed into my first cold in over a year. Two days of a mild fever and a sore throat have left me bored and irritable. This is a long way of saying that I need to make a batch of this soup pronto.

I was looking at my “pantry” shelves last week and I noticed a bag of Wild Rice that I must have thrown into my cart months and months ago. Since I know that Dave doesn’t love a multi-textured rice blend as much as I do, I decided to see if he would appreciate it in soup form.

I have also started to get in the habit of picking up a nice chicken from Whole Foods and roasting it Zuni Cafe Style every week or so (usually without any herbs/flavors at all), which means that I need more creative ways to use up leftover chicken.

This recipe has earned the rights to be on the list next to Chicken Enchiladas and Chicken Tortilla Soup. I took inspiration from the Kitchen Sink but did some tweaking of my own by adding a few more spices and tossing in some frozen corn. It would also be great with other vegetables, maybe peas or broccoli.

Chicken & Wild Rice Soup
Recipe adapted from Cooking Light via The Kitchen Sink

Ingredients:
2 teaspoons butter or olive oil
1 cup chopped carrot; about 5-6 carrots
1 cup chopped onion; 1 large or 2 medium sized
1 cup chopped green onions; about one bunch {reserve a little to top the bowls with}
1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/2 teaspoon herbes de provence
1/2 teaspoon ground chipotle pepper
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 quart of chicken broth; low-sodium or preferably homemade
1 1/2 cups leftover chicken; shredded (from a roast or just cook up a few chicken breasts)
1 cup frozen corn (I am still working on a gallon bag of fresh corn cut from cobs this summer)
1 cup uncooked wild rice
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 3/4 cups 2% milk (or really whatever you usually have)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Melt the butter in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add carrot, onion, green onions and saute for 5-6 minutes until soft. Add the spices and garlic and saute for an additional minute or two. Stir in the chicken broth, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Stir in the rice; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 1 hour and 15 minutes or until rice is tender. Add the shredded chicken and corn.

Combine flour and milk in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add to pan. Cook over medium heat until thick (about 8 minutes), stirring frequently. Stir in salt to taste.

Serve topped with chopped green onions.