When my son shared with me that cream-based soups were his favorite kind, I thought to myself, I guess I can always learn. All of the soups I’ve made in the past are chicken or beef broth-based and cooking with milk has always left me apprehensive.
I decided the best approach would be to treat the soup as broth-based to start, then add the cream near the end.
I started by dicing yellow onion and celery (~2 cups each) and removing the meat from a rotisserie chicken (~ 1lb total). I sauteed these ingredients in olive oil and minced garlic (~2 Tbsp.) until the onion was translucent.
I added corn (2 cans) and continued to saute.
I then added 64 ounces of low sodium chicken broth, brought the soup to a boil, and seasoned heavily with dried basil and thyme.
While all this was cooking, in a separate pot I brought 3 tablespoons of unsalted butter to boil and mixed in 1/4 cup of flour to form a simple roux. Then I added 8 cups of 2% milk and a healthy amount of black pepper. I slowly added 1/2 cup more flour to the milk and continued stirring until completely dissolved. I’m sure I’ve offended soup chefs everywhere with my rough approach to the creamy part of this creation.
I poured the cream mixture into the larger pot with the broth, meat, and vegetables and brought up to a simmer. I then added 3 cups of wild and long grain rice and allowed to simmer for about 30 minutes until the rice was tender, adding more basil, thyme, and black pepper to taste.
The final product tastes delicious, but the texture is more like stew than soup. In the future, I’d either decrease the rice or increase the chicken broth if I wanted to keep the consistency more soup-like. I liked the thicker consistency it turned out to be.
Stew or soup, this creation is going to be a great meal for at least one dinner and my work lunches this week.
Did my son like it? We’ll have to wait and see. He ended up at a friend’s house for the evening.
According to MyFitnessPal, this recipe makes 14 servings and clocks in at ~343 calories, 14g of protein, and 14g of fat per serving. It’s not the lightest meal I’ve ever made, but will be a great energy boost on workout days.
#FoodIsLove. Creating it allows me to bring joy & health to those important to me.
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