Steamboat Bay Wild Rice Soup

I once lived on Leech Lake in northern Minnesota, overlooking a natural wild rice paddy. I made a stab at harvesting wild rice in Steamboat Bay—and learned to appreciate why wild rice commands premium pricing. Hand-harvesting involves dirty, sweaty, itchy, bug-infested labor to gather but a thin layer of rice kernels on the bottom of one's canoe. Fortunately, cultivated wild rice is readily available. More about wild rice ->

Wild rice soup deserves to be assertive, a memorable bowl of 'earthy' flavors. Thus the addition of smoked bacon, parsnips/rutabagas, caraway seeds, lovage leaves, juniper berries and porcini mushrooms. You can omit some or all, but the rule for this soup is: More is Better.

Use medium to high-starch potatoes to provide the needed creaminess (russets and Yukon Gold are good choices).

Wild rice cooking. Cultivated rice requires a longer cooking time than 'natural' wild rice, up to twice as long. For this recipe, I've based the cooking time on cultivated rice; adjust time as necessary. Rice is done when grains burst and rice retains a bit of firmness, something akin to al dente pasta.

Juniper berries. Slightly crush the berries by putting them under the flat side of a large knife blade and giving the blade a whack with your hand. Then put the crushed berries in a metal tea steeper and drop it into the cooking pot. It's then a cinch to remove the steeper with the berries. If you don't have juniper berries, use 1-2 bay leaves.

Porcini mushrooms. Soak dried mushrooms in warm water until soft (about 20 minutes). Strain the liquid (pour through a paper coffee filter) and put liquid in soup. Rinse the mushroom pieces to remove any sediment, then chop and put into soup.

To puree or not. If you want wild rice to dominate, puree some or all the soup before combining with the rice. If you prefer a chunkier soup, skip the puree altogether. Or compromise by using a potato masher in the pot, leaving some chunkiness.

Total time about 1-1/2 to 2 hours. Makes 8-10 cups (serves 5-8).

SHOPPING LIST:
	Wild rice Bacon (smoked, if possible) Leeks or onion Garlic Potatoes Parsnips or rutabaga Carrots Chicken or vegetable stock Dried porcini mushrooms Caraway seed Juniper berries or bay leaves Optional: fresh lovage leaves Half-and-half or cream Parsley
Prepare wild rice
1	Bring to boil in a pot of at least 4 quarts	2-1/2 cups (20 oz) water (or a mix of water and chicken or vegetable stock)
2	Add salt and then wild rice to boiling liquid; reduce heat, cover, and simmer 35-45 minutes (stir occasionally), then turn off heat and let rice stand at least another 30 minutes.	1/2 tsp salt 1/2 to 3/4 cup (4-6 oz) wild rice, rinsed and drained
Make the soup
1	Fry in large pot over medium heat until bacon begins to brown (3-5 minutes)	1-2 strips lean bacon, cut to 1/4" to 1/2" dice
2	Lower heat and stir in, then cook until leeks (or onions) are softened and translucent (6-8 minutes)	1 large leek, all white and some green parts, chopped, or 1 medium onion, chopped fine 1 tablespoon unsalted butter Salt and fresh ground black pepper
3	Stir in and cook about 30 seconds	1-2 cloves garlic, minced or chopped
4	Stir in and cook a few minutes; stir several times	4-5 medium potatoes, peeled and diced 1 medium parsnip, diced, or 1 small rutabaga, peeled and diced 1-2 carrots, finely chopped
5	Add, stir, then simmer—covered—until vegetables are tender (30-60 minutes)	3-4 cups chicken or vegetable stock (or a combination of stock and water) about 1 oz dried porcini mushrooms prepared as above 1/2 tsp caraway seed 8-10 juniper berries or 1-2 bay leaves Optional: 4-5 fresh lovage leaves, chopped
6	Remove juniper berries (or bay leaves).
7	Finish the soup by doing ONE of these: Puree some or all the soup either in a blender or food processor (or with an immersion blender in the pot) and then combine the puree with the reserved wild rice with liquid and simmer for 5-10 minutes, or Lightly mash the soup in the pot with a potato masher, then stir in the reserved wild rice with liquid and simmer for 5-10 minutes, or Stir in reserved wild rice with liquid and simmer for about 10 minutes
	Serving:
Pour into bowls and stir in a small amount of half-and-half, cream or plain yogurt Garnish with fresh parsley, chopped Serve with a hearty whole-wheat bread
Wild rice basics: In addition to hand-harvested wild rice in shallow lakes, it's also grown in man-made paddies and harvested by machine. I can't detect a significant taste difference between the 'natural' product and cultivated rice, although I know folks who swear that cultivated rice is an imposter. Where. Most wild rice is produced in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and adjoining areas in Canada. Types. There are two principal kinds: Rice harvested in shallow lakes (natural, for lack of a better description), and rice harvested in man-made paddies (cultivated). Most store-bought wild rice is cultivated. Wild rice is parched (lightly roasted) before being packaged for market. Hand-harvested wild rice (manoomin) is available online from sources such as Native Harvest http://www.welrp.org/. Cost. Price generally reflects the size and condition of the grains. Premium-grade generally means unbroken grains of uniform size and color (brown to black). Lower-grade rice generally means some or most broken grains. Broken grains aren't inferior in taste and are suitable for many wild rice dishes—certainly for soup. Blends. Broken-grain wild rice is commonly sold in supermarkets mixed with brown rice. Blends give the product a visual hint of wild rice, but its unique 'nutty' character tends to be lost. Cooking. Wild rice isn't rice at all; it's a wild grass (zinzania aquatica), the only cereal grain native to North America. So don't cook it as you would white or brown rice. And, unlike conventional rice, wild rice grains look 'wormy' when cooked. A little goes a long way—the cooked grains expand about four times in size.