creamy chicken and wild rice soup with lacinato kale

If my recipe titles had a snarky subtitle or tagline, here are a few I’d consider for this soup:

• Sneaky (and failed) ways I try to get my 2 year old daughter to eat greens.
• Sneaky (and failed) ways I try to get my 32 year old brother to eat mushrooms.
• I made a vat soup just to save a few carrots from spoiling.
• Every time a millennial adds kale to a recipe, an angel gets its wings.
• Hygge as a Dane in wool socks and kale-ing it.

You get my drift. This soup is super cozy and just what I want to eat on our cool fall days. Yes, I couldn’t help myself and added some kale at the end. But it’s deeeeelicious and I don’t think you will be disappointed if you give it a try. Shameless plug: For some extra depth of flavor I recommend using my chicken stock recipe as your broth.

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CREAMY CHICKEN AND WILD RICE SOUP WITH LACINATO KALE
serves 8*

Notes: You will need a large pot to make the full recipe (I use a 7.25qt/6.7liter pot). Also the recipe calls for 4 cups of cooked wild rice, which you can prep the day before if you want to.

Ingredients:
1 to 1.5lbs boneless chicken breasts or thighs
salt, black pepper
extra virgin olive oil
2 medium yellow onions, diced
1 whole shallot, diced
3 large carrots, diced
3 stalks celery, diced
8 oz crimini mushrooms, de-stemmed and cut into bite sized pieces
4-6 large garlic cloves, grated (6 for the garlic lovers)
2 tablespoons ginger, grated
3/4 cup dry white wine
several sprigs of fresh thyme
10 cups chicken stock (preferably homemade or good quality stock)
1 cup heavy cream
4 cups cooked wild rice
1 bunch of lacinato kale, for serving (washed, de stemmed, and ripped into bite sized pieces)

Directions:

1. Heat a large pot or dutch oven over medium high heat. Dice the chicken into bite sized pieces and add to the heated pot. Lightly salt the chicken and cook, flipping the pieces occasionally, until cooked through and no pink remains. Remove chicken pieces and set aside, leaving any drippings or fat in the pot for the next step.

2. Heat a large pot or dutch oven over medium heat. If you don’t have much chicken fat in the pot from the previous step, add 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add the onion and shallot, lightly salt, and cook for roughly 10 minutes or until starting to brown. Stir occasionally. Add carrots and celery (and a little more olive oil if needed) and cook for another 5 minutes. Add mushrooms, garlic, and ginger, lightly salt, and cook another 10 minutes.

3. Add white wine and thyme sprigs. Cook, stirring frequently for a few min. Then add the chicken broth and cooked chicken; bring to gentle simmer for at least 30 min, partially covered.

4. After 30 min of simmering, pull out the thyme sprigs. Stir in the heavy cream and cooked rice. Taste the soup and add salt or pepper to preference. Serve the soup in large bowls topped with fresh lacinato kale.

*I make a full batch of soup and freeze half for a night when I don’t want to cook. If you only want enough soup to feed 4, consider halving the recipe