Creamy Mushroom, Potato & Wild Rice Soup

Ingredients

⅔ cup (110 g) uncooked wild rice

Kosher salt

Extra-virgin olive oil

1 pound (450 g) mixed fresh mushrooms of your choice, dry ends trimmed, thinly sliced

¼ teaspoon dried chile flakes

Freshly ground black pepper

4 tablespoons (60 g) unsalted butter

1 leek, white and light-green parts only, cut crosswise into ⅛-inch-thick slices (about 1½ cups/200 g)

3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

3 tablespoons tomato paste

1 tablespoon smoked paprika, sweet or hot

¼ teaspoon caraway seeds, slightly crushed

1 quart (1 liter) chicken broth or vegetable broth

1 medium Yukon Gold or other medium-starch potato, peeled and cut into ¼-inch (6 mm) dice

Small handful thyme sprigs

Two 4-inch (10 cm) sprigs rosemary

1 cup (240 ml) heavy cream or crème fraîche

¼ cup (7 g) chopped fresh dill

Directions

Place the wild rice in a medium saucepan with 1 teaspoon salt and water to cover by about 3 inches (7.5 cm). Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to a lively simmer, cover, and cook until the wild rice is fully tender and most of the grains have opened up, about 45 minutes. Check occasionally to make sure the water hasn't cooked off. All the water may not be absorbed, so drain thoroughly. Set aside.

Pour a generous glug of olive oil into a large skillet or Dutch oven and set over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms in an even layer and season with the chile flakes and a nice sprinkling of salt and pepper. (Cook the mushrooms in batches if your pan can't accommodate them all in one layer.) Don't disturb the mushrooms until they're nicely browned on one side, then flip them over and cook until all are browned and slightly crisp at the edges, about 10 minutes per batch. Depending on the mushrooms, they may give off a lot of liquid; if so, just keep cooking until it has evaporated and the mushrooms will brown.

Scrape the mushrooms out of the pan into a bowl and set aside. Return the pan to the heat, reduce the heat to medium, add the butter and the leek, season lightly with salt and pepper, and cook until the leek slices are soft and fragrant, about 10 minutes; don't let them brown. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for another minute or two, then add the tomato paste, smoked paprika, and caraway seeds.

Cook, stirring and scraping the pan bottom, until the tomato paste has darkened and thickened a bit, about 5 minutes.

Add the broth, potato, thyme, and rosemary. Bring to a simmer and cook until the potato pieces are tender and easily crushed with a fork (scoop a couple out to test), about 20 minutes.

Add the cream, drained wild rice, and cooked mushrooms and simmer gently until the soup has thickened a bit and the raw cream flavor has cooked off, another 15 minutes or so. If the soup is getting very thick, add a bit of broth or water. The soup should be rich and creamy but not gloppy.

Taste and adjust the seasoning with more salt, pepper, or chile flakes. If you can, fish out and discard the thyme and rosemary stems, then add the dill. Serve hot. The soup will be good in the refrigerator for up to 2 days; 1 don't recommend freezing this one, as the mushrooms can develop a weird texture.

Notes

Gray day outside? Need something to lift your spirits? This will do it. While comforting and familiar-it's cream of mushroom soup, after all -this soup elevates the typical creamy bowl with intriguing herbal notes, a smokiness from the wild rice and smoked paprika, and a robust Eastern European flavor palette with caraway, paprika, and dill. As always, if you have access to a mix of wild mushrooms, use them, but basic creminis (which are baby portobellos, did ya know?) or white button mushrooms are totally fine. —Makes 2 quarts (2 liters), serves 4 to 6