Celery Root & Wild Rice Chowder

For the past two or three years I have been teaching a series of classes called “Inspired Cooking by the Book.”  The idea of the series is to teach recipes culled from the cookbooks that tend to get the most use in my cookbook library: those that have been written by chefs or seasoned cooks and that are either organized by the season…or by ingredient.  

 

As regular readers know, I really do cook and eat seasonally.  No matter what the season, I shop for food in a produce-centric way, choosing what looks good at the moment (whether at the farmers’ market or grocery store) and then supplementing with meat, fish, eggs, cheese, grains/pastas/legumes, etc.  When I’m faced with the inevitable “what are we going to have for dinner?” question—and I come up blank—these kinds of cookbooks provide the perfect inspiration for cooking with what I already have in my fridge and pantry.

 

Sometimes I don’t change the original recipes at all for these classes.  And in some cases the original recipe is really nothing more than a spring board.  The title…or picture…or list of ingredients…appealed to me, but the actual recipe wasn’t what I wanted or expected, so I just create my own recipe using the things that inspired me about the original recipe.  In either case, the resulting recipes make for interesting classes of seasonal foods that provide some insight into the daily home cooking habits of a professional chef.  The classes have been immensely popular and I am currently in the middle of round 2 of the series.

 

In the winter installment of the series this second time around I included a recipe from Deborah Madison’s Local Flavors for Celery Root & Wild Rice Chowder.  I was attracted to the combination of celery root and wild rice (a fantastic, earthy, pairing).  And I was intrigued by the fact that she called this a “chowder.”  The origin of the term chowder is open to debate (generally thought to have something to do with the name of a cooking vessel), but with few exceptions, it refers to hearty seafood and/or fish soups.  The fact that these soups almost always include chunks of potato…and cream or milk (in which case they are generally thickened with a roux)…has led to a few variations that don’t contain seafood.  Corn chowder and potato chowder come to mind.

This soup does indeed include chunks of potato and heavy cream.  And it has the rustic feel that I associate with a chowder.  If I hadn’t known the name, but had been served a steaming bowl of this soup—with wild rice and little chunks of celery root and potatoes suspended in a rich, creamy base—I think I would have dubbed it a chowder, too.

I changed the chowder very little from Madison’s original (it definitely still qualifies as a chowder!).  I increased the quantity of broth, potatoes and wild rice a bit…and elected to stir the rice in (rather than placing a mound in the center of each bowl).  It is delicious…and it keeps well (reheating beautifully without becoming overly thick and stodgy).  And as one would expect from a chowder, I have found it to be especially satisfying during our recent spate of cold and unusually stormy weather.  

Celery Root & Wild Rice Chowder

4 oz. (2/3 c.) wild rice

1 qt. chicken stock

Salt & Pepper to taste

3 T. butter, divided

1 stalk celery, cut in 1/8th-inch dice (about 1/3 c.)

2 large leeks, white & pale green parts only, cut in 1/4-inch dice and thoroughly rinsed (2 cups)

1 large or 2 medium cloves garlic, minced

2 or 3 well-branched sprigs of thyme

2 or 3 parsley stems

1 large celery root (1 to 1 1/4 lb.), peeled and cut in 1/4-inch dice (3 to 3 2/3 cups)

1 Yukon potato (about 8 oz.), peeled and cut in 1/4-inch dice

1/2 c. heavy cream

1 T. freshly squeezed lemon juice, if needed

Finely sliced flat leaf parsley

Olive oil for garnish

If time, soak the rice (see note):  In a medium bowl, pour boiling water over the wild rice. Allow the rice to soak for one hour, then drain.  Place the rice (drained or raw) and the stock in a large saucepan and bring to a simmer. Simmer until the rice is just tender—about 30 to 40 minutes. Strain, reserving the stock and the rice separately.  Measure the stock and add water to make 4 cups.

Melt 2 T. of the butter in a large saucepan set over medium heat, sweat the celery and leeks until beginning to soften—about 5 minutes.  While the celery and leeks cook, tie the herb stems securely together with a piece of cotton kitchen twine (see note).  When the leeks and celery are ready, add the remaining tablespoon of butter.  When the butter has melted, add the celery root and herb bundle along with a good pinch of salt.  Cook until the celery root is beginning to soften on the surface and all the vegetables are sizzling gently—about 5 minutes. 

Add the reserved stock and potatoes.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to a simmer and season to taste with salt.  Simmer gently until all of the vegetables are tender—about 20 minutes.

Using a slotted spoon, transfer a cup of the vegetables to the cup of a blender or immersion blender.  Add enough of the cooking liquid to cover the vegetables and purée until smooth.  Scrape the purée back into the soup pot.  Add the heavy cream.  If the soup is too thin, purée some more of the vegetables.  If it is too thick, add some water or stock or milk.   Taste and correct the seasoning with salt and pepper.  If the soup is well-seasoned but still tastes bland, add a squeeze of lemon to lift the flavors.

Add the rice, bring to a simmer and serve garnished with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of parsley.

Makes a generous 1 1/2 quarts soup—serves 4 to 6.

(Adapted from Local Flavors by Deborah Madison)

Notes:

• Soaking the rice will cut down on the cooking time only slightly. The main reason to do it is that it helps the rice absorb water more evenly as it cooks.
• If you don’t have any kitchen twine, you can of course just throw the herb sprigs/stems into the soup. Just remember to count them so you will know how many to fish out of the soup before you serve it.
• Because this is chowder—and I associate bacon with clam, potato and corn chowders—I think bacon would be a delicious addition. Cut 2 slices (about 2 oz.) of bacon into 1/2-inch squares. In the soup pot, render until just beginning to crisp. Add enough butter to make 2 T. Add the celery and leek and proceed with the recipe.
• Deborah Madison suggests drizzling a bit of truffle oil over the soup. If you happen to have some on hand, it would be delicious in place of the olive oil. I think a nut oil—particularly walnut or hazelnut oil—would also be good.

Printable Version

Wild Rice Salad with Apples & Roast Chicken

October seems to have slipped by me.  It had been my intention all month long to share the recipe for this wild rice salad…and now the month is gone.   It is a salad that is appropriate for the warmer days of autumn, but I also think it would be a delicious addition to a holiday buffet….or potluck gathering…not to mention the fact that it would make a delicious boxed lunch just about any time during apple season.  So, before November gets away from me, I thought I would start the month off right by posting it now…on the first day of the month. 

I love grain salads (and pilafs) so when I started working on a new apple class for this year I wanted to include a grain salad.   A wild rice salad seemed like a good idea.  Wild rice and apples are linked in my mind because I associate them both with fall in Minnesota.  When I was a kid we moved to Minnesota for a couple of years.  We arrived in the fall and it would have been about that time that I first tasted wild rice, which is of course native to Minnesota. 

But apples grow just about everywhere, so you might wonder why I associate apples with Minnesota.  I would say it is most likely because it was there that I was first exposed to apples in all their regional diversity.  Even my kid’s limited and picky palate was able to delight in the unique flavors and textures of Cortland, Haralson and Prairie Spy apples.  Since none of these varieties are available in the lower Midwest where I have spent most of my life they were quite exotic to me and gave me a whole new appreciation for apples.  When I returned to Minnesota for college I was so pleased to discover that every fall a nearby orchard trucked in a load of these wonderful regional varieties on Friday afternoons to sell outside the campus center. 

Wild rice is the featured grain in this salad, but since munching through a salad of all wild rice would be a bit of an exercise, I have cut the wild rice with some brown Basmati.  (You can use any long grain brown rice you please, but I particularly like fragrant Basmati.)  The advantage of pairing the wild rice with a long grain brown rice is that the brown rice will cook in the same amount of time that it takes the wild rice to soften.  This makes it possible to cook them together in the same pot.  Since there are a lot of elements in this salad, this is a great advantage.  Cooking them together will also force you to remove the rice from the heat when the brown rice is done...thus preventing the wild rice from getting so soft that it splits open and curls.  Wild rice taken to this point has been cooked too long.  I recently read on the bulk bin at Whole Foods an excellent description of what wild rice should look like when it is perfectly done:  It should have begun to split down the length of the grain and will look something like a hot dog bun…it should not look blown open like a popcorn kernel.  At the correct doneness, it will still have texture, but it will also be tender.

When you choose an apple for this salad, make sure that you choose something crisp with a sweet—or possibly sweet-tart—flavor profile. Softer apples will fade in competition with the other lively textural elements (in addition to the crunchy-chewy wild rice, there are crunchy pieces of celery and pecans as well as chewy dried cranberries).  Apples that are too tart will fall flat…the salad needs sweetness to lift the flavors.  Hints of sweetness come from a bit of honey in the dressing and from the orange juice soaked dried cranberries, but these are not quite enough.  Something like a juicy Honey Crisp or Pink Lady…or a super-crisp Gala….will add a vibrant splash of flavor.  If you have a local apple that you love that is crisp and sweet, you should definitely give it a try in this salad.

 Wild Rice Salad with Apples & Roast Chicken

3/4 c. (125 grams) wild rice
1/2 c. (90 grams) brown Basmati rice

2 chicken leg quarters (about 1 lb. total weight)
olive oil
salt & pepper

1 small red onion (5 to 6 oz.), trimmed and thinly sliced
1 T. olive oil

1/2 c. dried cranberries
Juice and zest of 1/2 orange
1/4 c. cider vinegar
2 t. honey
1/4 c. olive oil
2 medium-sized (5 or 6 oz. each) crisp, sweet to sweet-tart apples (Gala, Honey Crisp, Pink Lady, etc.)
1/2 c. pecans, toasted and coarsely broken
1/2 c. thinly sliced celery (from one large or two small stalks—if the stalks are fat, halve lengthwise before slicing)
2 handfuls arugula (1 1/2 to 2 oz.), roughly chopped if leaves are large

Rinse both kinds of rice and drain well.  Place in a medium saucepan and cover with five cups of cold water.  Add 3 or 4 good pinches of kosher salt (about 3/4 t.) and bring to a simmer.  Simmer gently—uncovered—until the rice is tender, but still has texture...about 40 to 45 minutes.  Don't allow the wild rice to blow open like popcorn (when done, wild rice has a vertical split, giving it the look of a split hot dog bun).  Drain the rice and spread on a sheet pan to cool.

While the rice cooks, rub the chicken with olive oil and season well with salt & pepper.  Place in a casserole or roasting pan that is just large enough to hold the pieces without touching.  Roast in a 450° oven until the juices run clear and the skin is crispy—about 40 minutes.  Transfer to a plate to cool.  Pour the fat off from the pan and discard.  Deglaze the pan with a splash of water.  When the chicken is cool enough to handle, remove and discard the skin.  Pull the meat from the bones, tearing it into large bite-sized pieces. Toss the shredded chicken with the pan deglazings and any resting juices.  Taste and season with salt & pepper.  Set aside.

While the chicken and rice cook, warm a sauté pan over medium to medium-high heat.  Add a tablespoon of oil to the pan, followed by the onions along with a pinch of salt.  Sauté the onions until tender & golden...about 10 to 15 minutes.  Set aside to cool.

Place the dried cranberries in a small bowl and toss with the orange juice.  Let sit for 10 to 15 minutes.  While the cranberries soak, make the vinaigrette.  Place the zest, cider vinegar and honey in a small bowl.  Season with salt and pepper.  Whisk in a quarter cup of olive oil.

When ready to pull the salad together, quarter and core the apples (peel them only if the skin is tough).  Cut the quarters in half lengthwise.  Cut these eighths crosswise a scant quarter inch thick.  Place the apples, rice, chicken (with its juices), onions, craisins (with any unabsorbed orange juice), pecans and celery in a large bowl.  Season with salt and pepper and pour the vinaigrette over.  Toss well.  Taste and correct the seasoning with salt, vinegar and honey.  Add the arugula and toss in just before serving.  Serves four generously as a salad entrée.

Notes:

• After roasting and shredding the chicken legs, you will have 7 or 8 oz. (200 to 225 grams) cooked meat. If you have leftover (or rotisserie) chicken, you can use it in this salad. Simply weigh out this amount and add it to the salad instead of cooking fresh.
• I only add arugula to what I will be serving immediately…and then add fresh arugula to leftovers as I eat them. It is fine to add it all at once, but the arugula in the leftovers will have softened and lost its crispness. 
• If you don’t like arugula, baby spinach would be a good alternative.
• If you don’t have an orange on hand, you may substitute apple cider (or juice) for the orange juice (use about 3 T.) and simply omit the zest from the vinaigrette.
• This salad would be delicious with shredded duck confit or roast, shredded pheasant in place of the roast chicken.

Printable Version

Cream of Mushroom & Wild Rice Soup

The country has been in the midst of a cold snap that will probably place the winter of '14 in the record books.  Apparently one spot in the Aloha State even dropped below 32° F the other morning...making it so all fifty states were reporting temperatures below the freezing mark in at least one location.  In many parts of the country it is so cold that 32° sounds downright balmy.  Where I live the polar vortex has moved on by, but it is still cold...and now it is damp too.  I imagine that for most people, heading back out into the elements after a long day at work, just to get something to eat, would be extremely unappealing...making this perfect weather for staying in to cook.  Perfect weather for a rich casserole or a stew...a creamy or hearty baked pasta...or a warm and flavorful bowl of soup.

At my house we have been eating a lot of soup:  Cream of Wild Rice with Vegetables & Country Ham....Classic Tomato....Corn Chowder....  Last night I made a Cream of Mushroom and Wild Rice.  Most of these soups were made just because I was hungry for them, but last night's was made in preparation for a winter soups class that I will be teaching next week (it's so nice that the weather is cooperating).  The class is filled with my favorites...some tried and true, and others that are old friends that I have updated for the class.  Last night's soup falls into this latter category. 

I have always loved the combination of mushrooms and wild rice so several years ago when I was asked to help develop some soup and salad recipes for a local restaurant and deli I decided to work this combination into a velouté-based soup similar to a cream of wild rice soup (mentioned above) that I have been making for years.  For the deli I made a thick, stew-like version that included pieces of shredded chicken.  It was delicious—chunky and satisfying... just the kind of thing one might expect to find at an old-fashioned deli.  To turn the recipe into something that is a bit more to my taste (for a class advertised as featuring my favorites), I have reworked it so that it is all about the mushrooms...increasing the fresh mushrooms by fifty percent, adding dried porcini and leeks (wonderful with mushrooms) and omitting the chicken.  The soup is still hearty...but it is also refined.  Just the kind of soup I like to eat.

So if soup is exactly what you are craving...and you love mushrooms...you should give this one a try.  Or, you can check out some of the other soup recipes that I have shared over the past few years.  Hopefully you'll find one...or two...that will be just the thing—warming you right down to your toes and providing a much needed respite from the cold.

Cream of Mushroom & Wild Rice

1/4 oz. dried porcini (optional)

1 c. boiling water

4 oz. (2/3 c.) wild rice, rinsed

2 qts. chicken stock, divided

8 T. butter, divided

1 lb. mushrooms—I use Crimini & white button...but you could use whatever you like...cleaned, halved if larger than an inch across and thinly sliced

1/2 lb. Shiitake mushrooms, stems removed, caps halved if large and sliced thinly cross-wise

Mushrooms are cut so they will be in bite-sized pieces

2/3 c. white wine

1 large or 2 small leeks—white and pale green parts only, cut in a 1/4-inch dice and rinsed in several changes of water to remove all grit

1 onion cut in a 1/4-inch dice (about 10 oz.)

2 medium ribs celery cut in a 1/4-inch dice

2 cloves garlic minced

1 T. minced fresh thyme

1/2 c. flour

2/3 c. heavy cream

Salt & pepper, to taste

Minced chives or parsley

Ingredients for half a recipe

If using dried porcini, place in a small bowl and pour the boiling water over.  Let sit until rehydrated and soft...30 to 45 minutes.  Lift porcini out and rinse.  Mince finely and set aside.  Strain the soaking liquid through a coffee filter or dampened paper towel and reserve separately.

Important to rinse the soaked mushrooms and strain the liquid  through a filter
of some kind--note the grit remaining in the bowl in which the mushrooms
were soaked and in the filter.  You don't want grit in your soup.

Meanwhile, place rice in a pot with half of the stock.  Bring to a simmer.  Cover and simmer gently until the rice is tender, but not blown open—30 to 40 minutes.  Strain and reserve the stock and rice separately. 

Melt 4 T. butter in a large, wide sauté pan.  Increase the heat to moderately high and add the mushrooms along with a couple of good pinches of salt.  Cook stirring occasionally until the mushrooms have reduced in volume and any liquid they have given off has evaporated.  The mushrooms should be tender and caramelized in places.  

Add the wine and reduce to a glaze.  Set aside.

While the rice and mushrooms cook, melt the remaining 4 T. of butter in a stock pot over medium-low heat.  Add the leeks, onions, celery, garlic and thyme along with a pinch of salt.  Stir to coat the vegetables in the butter.  As soon as the vegetables begin to sizzle, reduce the heat to low, cover the pot and sweat until very tender (15 to 20 minutes).  Uncover.  If the pan seems dry, add another tablespoon of butter.  Add the flour and cook, stirring, for 2 or 3 minutes.  Add the remaining quart of stock and bring to a simmer.  Add the reserved mushrooms (both the sautéed and rehydrated) and the rice and porcini liquids.  Simmer, with the pot half covered, for 5 to 10 minutes to allow the flavors to blend.  Add the cream and the wild rice and heat through.  Season to taste with salt & pepper.  Serve garnished with minced chives or parsley if you like.  Makes a scant 3 quarts soup.

Note:  To make a hearty chicken variation, omit the shiitake mushrooms and leeks, increase the butter the onion and celery are cooked in to 6 T. and the flour to 3/4 cups.  Add 2 cups of diced or shredded cooked chicken when you add the wild rice.  

Printable Version

Warm soup on a cold night...

Cream of Wild Rice Soup

I thought I would begin the year with soup. At the outset I should make it clear that this is not a diet soup. I am not a fan of the annual January obsession with dieting and losing weight. I figure any weight I gained during a month of excess will soon right itself after a month of eating normally. And in the meantime, the extra padding will help keep me warm. So, instead of a "light" soup, I am posting the kind of soup I love to eat...smooth, suave and finished with a touch of heavy cream. Yes, it is rich. But its richness makes it soothing and filling...you only need a small serving.

We had it a few days ago for our New Year's Eve dinner. Along with a fruit salad and some homemade bread, I found it to be a perfect close to a month of holiday eating. When I was growing up, my mother made a wild rice soup every year on Christmas Eve. For that reason, I always think of this soup around the holidays, but there is nothing particular about it that would cause others to form a similar association. Every time I prepare it, I wonder why I don't make it more often.

If you live in the Twin Cities, you will no doubt find this soup to be familiar. It is a variation on a very popular Wild Rice Soup sold at Byerly's. My version has more vegetables and less wild rice. It is also much thinner. Since I don't believe I have done so before, I will take a moment now to state my opinion on cream soups: They should be velvet-y and elegant, with just enough body to make you aware that this is soup and not a beverage, but not so much that you might mistake them for a vegetable side dish or worse, a hot breakfast cereal. I am opposed to thick, gloppy purées masquerading as cream soups. If, after drawing a spoon through the bowl of a cream or puréed soup, a faint path or small trough is visible, the soup is too thick

Correcting the consistency of a soup is an easy thing to do. If it is too thick simply add water, stock or milk. If it is too thin, there are several things that can be done. If it is a soup that has been thickened with a roux (flour cooked in butter) and it is way too thin, then you might consider preparing a little more roux: Measure out equal quantities of butter and flour. Melt the butter over medium heat, whisk in the flour and cook until foamy and straw colored—there is a picture of what a cooked roux should look like, embedded in the recipe, in my post on Baked Penne with Cauliflower and Two Cheeses. When the roux is ready, gradually add it, a bit at a time, to the simmering soup until the soup has reached the desired thickness. Adding heavy cream is a good way to add body to a cream soup or a puréed vegetable soup that seems just a tad too thin. Finally, if it will not ruin the soup to cook it longer, simply simmer a soup that is just a bit too thin briefly and allow it to reduce.

While I am on the subject, don't overlook the fact that soups allowed to sit on the heat—even very low heat—will continue to thicken as the liquid in them slowly evaporates. If you have ever been served a cup or a bowl of soup at a restaurant that was so thick it would practically hold a spoon upright, it is because the soup has been held in a steam well where it continued to thicken. Better restaurants will either heat soups in small batches, to order, or, if they are holding soups in a steam well, they will make sure that someone is keeping an eye on them and adding water when necessary. Any time you hold a soup on the heat for a while, or reheat a soup, you will need to check to make sure that it has not become too thick. If it has, just add water to restore it to its proper consistency. It is not necessary or desirable to add stock or milk to a soup that is too thick due to over-reduction. You only need to replace what has evaporated—the water.

You will notice that my method for cooking the wild rice for this soup is a bit unusual. According to Madeleine Kamman, wild rice doesn't really have to be "cooked"—it can simply be rehydrated, or gradually softened, in successive baths of hot water. Since this process of adding boiling water, letting it cool, draining it and repeating can take several hours, I have modified it a bit. I soak it for an hour first before cooking. This one soak seems to help the wild rice cook more uniformly, producing tender grains of wild rice that are intact rather than split open and curled back. If you are short on time, you can skip the one hour soak, but you will need to increase the time the wild rice is simmered by 10 to 20 minutes.

Since I began this post with a mild rant on dieting, I'll bring it to a close by suggesting that instead of dieting, perhaps it would be a better idea to join me in enjoying all things in moderation.  Begin with a small bowl of this rich and satisfying soup.  Happy New Year.

Cream of Wild Rice Soup with Vegetables & Country Ham

4 oz. (2/3 c.) wild rice
2 qt. chicken stock
2 stalks celery, cut in 1/8th-inch dice (about 2/3 c.)
1 small onion, cut in 1/8th-inch dice (about 1 1/3 c.)
1 carrot, cut in 1/8th-inch dice (about 2/3 c.)
8 T. butter, divided
1/2 c. flour
4 oz. ham, cut in 1/8th-inch dice (about 1 c.)
1/2 c. heavy cream
1 T. dry sherry
1/4 c. slivered almonds, toasted and coarsely chopped
1/2 c. sliced scallions, green only
Salt & Pepper to taste

In a medium bowl, pour boiling water over the wild rice. Allow the rice to soak for one hour, then drain. Place the drained rice and the stock in a large saucepan and bring to a simmer. Simmer until the rice is just tender—about 30 to 40 minutes. Strain, reserving the stock and rice separately. Measure the stock—add water if necessary to make 6 cups. Keep the stock hot.

While the rice is cooking, in a large saucepan set over medium heat, sweat the celery, carrot and onion along with a pinch of salt in 2 to 3 T. of butter until tender.

Add the remaining butter and melt.

Stir in the flour and cook, stirring constantly for a minute or two—the roux will be bubbly and cream-colored.

Remove from the heat and pour in half of the hot stock, whisking constantly until smooth—it will thicken immediately. Add the remaining stock. Return to the heat and stir constantly until the soup base returns to a simmer; stir in the reserved wild rice and the ham.

Simmer for a few minutes to allow the flavors to blend. To serve, add the cream and the sherry and heat through. Taste and correct the seasoning. Serve in warmed soup bowls, garnished with toasted almonds and sliced scallions.

Makes 2 quarts soup—serves 6 to 8.