Creamy Mushroom Wild Rice Soup

I had over a cup of goopy stuff left over from moussaka (just a mixture of vegetable broth, soy milk, and silken tofu), and (thinking back on this soup) wild rice soup seemed like just the thing for using it up.

This was a resounding success. I think this was partly because of adding mushrooms (always an umami boost), but also because when starting out I used some leftover oil from making french fries a few days earlier. This 'potato-infused oil,' if you will, had a built-in sense of creamy savoriness, which was only boosted by the other aspects of this soup.

Creamy Mushroom Wild Rice Soup

Ingredients

1/2 c veg stock

1/2 c soymilk

1/2 c silken tofu (optional)

*

oil

1 onion, chopped

1 carrot, diced

1 stalk celery, diced

pinch salt

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 serrano chili, minced (optional)

1/4 tsp thyme

1/2 tsp oregano

8 oz button mushrooms, quartered

2 small summer squash (or 1 zucchini), halved longwise and sliced into moons

1.5 c wild rice

5 c homemade stock

*

salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions
1. In a blender, mix together the 1/2 c veg stock with the soymilk and tofu until the tofu is completely blended. If you're not using tofu, you can skip the blender and just mix them by hand.
2. In a large stock pot, heat the oil. Sautee the onion, carrot, and celery over medium heat with a pinch of salt for 5-7 min. Add garlic and chili and cook for a few more minutes. Then add mushrooms and squash, cook another minute, and then add rice and 5 c stock. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat, simmering until rice is cooked (35-45 min).
3. When rice has broken open and is tender, add soy-tofu-stock mixture to the soup (don't boil). Add salt and pepper to taste, then serve.
Serves about 4.