Turkey Wild Rice Soup Jazz

Last November, Brad and I went down to South Carolina to celebrate his grandfather's 90th birthday. The first night there was really cold, but we didn't mind because Brad's aunt Shannon made two enormous pots -nay, cauldrons- of delicious, hearty Turkey Wild Rice Soup and Broccoli Cheese soup. Of course, I HAD  to have the recipes for both, and she was generous enough to share. Then, (also of course) I couldn't leave well enough alone and I tinkered with the recipe. I shared in my cook's notes the way I actually made the soup, but I changed the ingredients in the recipe as it's written here so they are easy to find. I encourage you to keep this recipe in mind around Thanksgiving next year so you can try it the way I had it tonight. Think of the recipe as basic chords of a jazz standard, and feel free to improvise as little or as much as you want. 

Turkey Wild Rice Soup

4 cups chicken stock

2 cups water

1/2 cup wild rice

1/4 cup chopped green onions

1 1/2 cups cooked, chopped turkey

1 1/2 cups frozen vegetables

1/2 cup pancetta cubes

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

1 tbsp butter

2 cups half and half

NOTE: There are lots of cooks notes to this recipe, so please read those before trying this recipe out.

In a large pot, over medium heat combine the stock, water, rice and green onions. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 35 minutes, uncovered. 

Meanwhile, prepare the rest of your mise en place. In a small bowl or even in the measuring cup you used for the flour, add the salt and pepper to the flour and combine.  On a plate or in a bowl, combine the turkey and the vegetables and set them aside. Also have your butter and,  half and half measured and ready to go. 

Then, in a large skillet  (9 or 10 inches in diameter), cook the pancetta over medium heat until crispy. Turn off the heat and carefully remove pancetta from the pan and put in the bowl with the turkey and veggies while leaving as much fat as you can in the pan. 

When the rice is finished cooking (after the 35 minutes is up), turn off the heat to that burner. For the burner with the skillet with the pancetta fat, turn the heat to medium low, and add the butter. While constantly stirring add the flour to the fat. Stir for about a minute to make a smooth paste. Then slowly add the half and half to the rue, stirring constantly to minimize lumps.

 When the mixture is smooth and begins to thicken (it should almost look like alfredo sauce, or a rather thin country gravy...which is what it is), you'll know it's ready to add to the soup pot. Stir in the creamy mixture to combine it with the rice mixture. Turn the heat to low, and add the contents of the bowl with the turkey to the pot of soup. Heat a couple minutes longer until the soup is heated through. 

** Cooks notes:  This recipe is so flexible it's not even funny. When I made this soup today, I actually deviated a lot from the recipe above, and it still turned out great. I saved all the juices from my Christmas turkey which separated into a beautiful stock and a nice disk of schmaltz (aka turkey fat) in the fridge. I warn you though. The cold turkey stock from a roast turkey chills to the consistency of a gelatin mold, which can scare some people. Don't worry, it melts quite quickly to a velvety liquid base for your soup. If you are keeping it longer than about a week, before making the soup I suggest you refrigerate the stock over night to separate the fat disk out. Wrap the disk in foil. Put both in the freezer until...forever. Moving on. I substituted the homemade turkey stock for the chicken stock and the schmaltz for the butter.  Also, I found wild rice to be $5 a pound at my local Trader Joe's, which is far more than I care to spend for rice. Instead I bought Trader Joe's Basmati Rice Medley- a mix of basmati rice, wild rice, dried herbs and dried veggies. It's $1.99 a pound, which is enough to 4 batches of this soup! 

Can't find pancetta cubes? Think it costs too much? Already have bacon in your fridge? USE THE BACON! The recipe I based this one on, calls for 8 strips to be cut into bits. 

Finally, I have made creamy soups (like the filling for my chicken pot pie) without the aid of fatty heavy cream (or half and half). However, I had some left over from making sweet potato pie and needed to use it up so I added it to the soup this time. I think you could be successful with just milk (we are a 1% household) added to your rue. It should be smooth and velvety but less rich. If you can't be bothered to buy dairy in addition to your milk, or you want to have a healthy alternative...I haven't tested it in this recipe, but I think it's totally do-able.  If you do test it, let me know how it goes! :o)