Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

From grocery.coop

Wild rice is native to the upper Midwest, where it is still hand harvested by knocking the grains into a canoe. Real, wild harvested wild rice is mottled gray and cooks more quickly than cultivated wild rice. Cultivated wild rice is shiny, black, and has much larger grains than the wild kind. If you can find really wild wild rice, buy it, and the rest of the time enjoy cultivated rice for the nutty, chewy grain it is.

1/2 cup wild rice
3 cups water
2 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, chopped
2 medium carrots, chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried sage
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoons unbleached flour
3 cups chicken stock
1 medium cooked chicken breast, chopped
1/2 cup cream

1. In a small saucepan, bring wild rice and 3 cups water to a boil, then reduce to medium low. Cook for 30 minutes for hand harvested rice, 45 minutes to an hour for cultivated wild rice. Test the rice for doneness by removing a few grains and biting into them, they should be tender. When fully cooked, drain the rice and reserve.
2. In a large pot, melt the butter over medium heat, then add the onions, carrots and celery. Sauté for 5-10 minutes, until the onions are soft. Add the thyme, sage, salt and pepper and stir for a minute, then sprinkle over the flour and stir to coat the vegetables. Sauté for a minute, until the flour starts to stick a little. Gradually stir in the stock, scraping up any flour coating the pan. Bring the liquid to a bubble, and add the chicken, cooked wild rice and cream and stir until the soup thickens slightly and all the ingredients are warmed through.