Every restaurant seems to have a signature dish. Grandma’s restaurant in Duluth, MN is famous for their wild rice soup.
Situated in Canal Park on the shores of Lake Superior, Grandma’s has been a “destination” for almost 40 years. (The restaurant is also the founding force behind “Grandma’s Marathon”)
As a newlywed who honeymooned in Duluth, one of my goals was to create a soup at least as good as Grandma’s, and maybe better. Not one to brag often, I think mine is better. 🙂 I don’t like almonds in soup, so that was the first thing to go. I also eat gluten-free, so all the thickeners were altered. And I like to add as many vegetables to soup as possible.
Of course, since most cooking is done with available ingredients, and measuring isn’t my favourite activity, the soup never tastes exactly the same.
After making turkey with fennel spice rub, I cooked down the carcass for broth.
Since I already had cream of mushroom soup and cooked wild rice in the freezer, the soup was assembled in just minutes. I also had some ham in the freezer from a few weeks ago. So simple!
Begin by sautéing the onions, fennel, carrots, and celery until tender. Add minced garlic for the final minute, so it doesn’t scorch.
Deglaze the pan with white wine, making sure you scrape up all the tasty little bits stuck to the bottom.
Cook diced potatoes in a separate pan. The water potatoes cooks in gets cloudy and a little gritty. It’s nicer to just strain that water away. Remember that diced potatoes cook really fast – don’t turn them to mush.
Then pour in the stock – turkey or chicken – reserving 1/4 cup of the broth. Allow the veggies to simmer for about 5 minutes.
Add the cooked wild rice, mushroom soup base (or a can of cream of mushroom soup, if you must), and cooked potatoes. Allow this to come to a boil.
Make a slurry out of corn starch and the reserved broth. (I plan on 1 Tbsp corn starch for every 2 cups of liquid to thicken. If you have 8 cups of broth + wine, use 4 Tbsp cornstarch.) Add the slurry to the soup, and cook until thickened.
Add in the turkey and diced ham, or chicken and cooked bacon. Whatever makes you happy.
At this point, I usually take about 1/2 of the soup and put it into storage containers to freeze. It is so handy to have something available that just needs to be thawed, heated, and finishing touches (cream and cheese) added.
Once the soup is just about to boil again and the meats are heated through, turn down the heat and add cream and cheese. I use heavy whipping cream, because it’s wonderful, but half & half works fine. For cheese, we prefer smoked gouda, but any mild cheddar/provolone/monterey jack will do.
Heat the soup long enough for the cheese to melt, but don’t allow it to boil again.
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Wild Rice Soup
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
Description
A favorite to serve any time
Ingredients
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 large onion, diced
- 3 carrots, diced
- 3 stalks celery, diced
- 1 fennel bulb, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- several potatoes, diced
- 1 c white wine
- 6–8 c turkey or chicken stock
- 4 Tbsp cornstarch
- 2 c cooked wild rice
- 2 c cream of mushroom soup
- 2–3 c cooked turkey
- 1 c ham, diced
- 1 pint heavy whipping cream
- 2 c grated cheese, such as gouda, farmer’s cheese, etc.
Instructions
In a large stock pot sauté onion, carrots, celery and fennel in oil until tender. Add minced garlic and cook another couple minutes, not allowing any of the veggies to brown. Deglaze the pan with white wine, scraping up all the little brown bits.
Meanwhile, cook potatoes in a separate pot until tender, remembering that small pieces cook quickly. Drain potatoes.
Add stock to the large pot, reserving 1/4 cup stock. Add wild rice, mushroom soup, and potatoes, then bring to a gentle boil.
Combine cornstarch with reserved stock, and add to the pot to thicken soup. Add meats to heat thoroughly.
This is a good time to remove half of the soup, if you want to freeze for future use. Otherwise, add cream and grated cheese, heating completely, but not allowing to boil.
Notes
Either make a large pot to serve a small army, or set aside some soup to freeze for later use. After thawing soup, heat and add cream and cheese before serving.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
