Wild Rice Soup with Bacon and Butternut Squash

For the winter months nothing beats a hot bowl of wild rice soup! I tend to avoid creamy soups due to their heaviness but I decided to give it a try. In the past I’ve made it as a broth-based soup instead of cream-based. Even though it doesn’t skimp on the cream and bacon, it wasn’t especially heavy which was surprising. I made this recipe with the leftover bones I froze from the Thanksgiving turkey. The recipe for homemade stock (swap out chicken for turkey) can be found here. The soup is also packed with butternut squash, corn and other veggies. For the rice, I decided to save the broth and not add it into the soup as it cooked; that way the rice didn’t absorb all the tasty broth. I really liked how this turned out and it was a perfect recipe for the holidays!

Ingredients:

• 2 small yellow onions, chopped
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 3 carrots, diced
• 3 stalks celery, diced
• 8 strips bacon, chopped
• 3/4 cup dry white wine
• 1 tbsp fresh thyme, chopped
• 2 cups sweet corn
• 2 bay leaf
• 1 1/2 cups wild rice
• 8-9 cups turkey or chicken stock (or more depending on thickness preference)
• 1/2 cup flour
• 4 cups half n’ half
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• sea salt and black pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. In a large pot or dutch oven, heat the bacon on medium high heat and cook until the bacon is crisp and some of the fat has been rendered.
2. Remove the bacon and set aside. Discard all but 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat.
3. Add the butter to the bacon fat and melt. Add the onions, carrots and celery. Cook for 5 minutes until softened.
4. Add the fresh thyme and butternut squash and cook for another 5 minutes.
5. Whisk together the flour with the half n’ half.
6. Add the bay leaf, stock, corn, white wine, heavy cream, flour and half n’ half mixture, sea salt and black pepper, and bring the soup to a low boil. Add another cup of stock if you want the soup to be less thick.
7. Turn down the heat and simmer on lowest setting for about 25-30 minutes, or until the soup has thickened, stirring occasionally.
8. Meanwhile, cook the wild rice as directed on the package.
9. Turn off the heat and stir in the cooked bacon.
10. Add several scoops of rice to each bowl and pour in a few ladlefuls of the soup. Taste and adjust salt and pepper if desired.