Another great way to use up some leftover roasted turkey or chicken! Casseroles or soups, such as this one, are usually ideal ways to use already cooked poultry that you’ve had to freeze. I always like to freeze them in 2-cup portions, which is the amount most of my recipes call for.
The addition of ground allspice is adapted from one of my cheffie friends — she tosses a few whole allspice berries into her homemade stock, and it adds such an interesting depth of flavor! I figured I’d incorporate it into this soup by using the ground version to season the vegetables as they sauté.
Another thing - when I’m cooking with fresh thyme in soups or sauces, I usually don’t bother stripping the leaves from the stem. I just toss them in whole, and fish them out before serving. The leaves tend to fall right off anyway, and the stem helps to infuse the flavor into what you’re cooking even more!
Serves 4 (very easy to double!)
Ingredients
2 Tbsp butter
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp ground allspice
2 Tbsp flour
2 fresh thyme sprigs
1/2 cup wild rice blend
5 cups chicken stock or broth (or turkey stock, if you have it and you're using turkey)
2 cups cooked chicken or turkey, cut or shredded into bite-sized pieces
1/2 cup heavy cream
Kosher salt
Fresh cracked pepper
Directions
In a Dutch oven over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the celery, carrots, and onion. Season with a generous pinch of salt and a few scrunches of pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until everything begins to soften, about 7 minutes. Stir in the garlic and allspice, and cook another two minutes.
Sprinkle in the flour and stir to coat the vegetables. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring continuously.
Add the thyme sprigs, rice blend, and chicken stock/broth to the pot, and stir. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to maintain a simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 25 minutes. Add the meat and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, for another 5 minutes. The rice should be tender by this time, but do a taste test to make sure.
Stir in the cream, and heat another few minutes. Remove and discard the thyme sprigs. Taste, and season the soup with more salt and pepper, if desired. Serve hot.
Visuals
Sauté the celery, carrots, and onions in the melted butter until they start to soften.
Add the minced garlic and ground allspice, and cook for another 2 minutes.
Sprinkle the flour into the pot, and cook for another 2 minutes, stirring continuously. This cooks out the raw flour flavor.
Add the thyme sprigs, wild rice blend, and chicken stock/broth. Stir and simmer for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.
This is one of the several brands of wild rice blends that my grocery store carries.
This is not written into the recipe, because not everyone has this on hand, but here is another secret ingredient that I sometimes throw into my soups. This all-purpose seasoning was given to me by a friend who swears by it! It does add an extra punch of deliciousness, but it does contain MSG - so keep that in mind if you're totally against it. I found some on Amazon with no MSG added, so you can look for that, too! Since this does contain salt, be mindful of that when seasoning with any additional salt.
Once the soup has simmered for 25 minutes, add the cooked chicken or turkey. Simmer for another 5 minutes, then taste the rice to make sure it's tender.
Add the cream, and heat everything for another few minutes.
Before serving, remove and discard the thyme stems. See why I don't bother stripping the leaves from the stems beforehand? All of the time in the simmering liquid does all the work for me!
Serve hot!
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