Recipe: Famous Dave's Chippewa Lakes Chicken Wild Rice Soup

CHIPPEWA LAKES CHICKEN WILD RICE SOUP

FOR THE ROUX:
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons butter
1 cup flour
FOR THE VEGETABLE MIXTURE:
2 tablespoons chicken fat or butter
1 cup finely chopped celery
1 cup diagonally sliced carrot
1 cup finely chopped onion
1/3 cup finely chopped green bell pepper
1/3 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
2 cups white shoe peg corn or corn niblets
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 medium jalapeno pepper, chopped
FOR THE SOUP:
1 gallon chicken broth
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1 1/2 pounds cooked chicken breast halves, coarsely chopped
3 cups cooked wild rice
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted (to garnish)

TO PREPARE THE ROUX:
Heat the butter in a skillet until hot. Stir in the flour. Cook over low heat for 2 minutes or until it is the consistency of roux, stirring constantly; do not brown.

TO PREPARE THE VEGETABLE MIXTURE:
Heat the chicken fat in a large saucepan until hot. Add the celery, carrot, onion, green pepper and red pepper. Saute until the onion is tender. Stir in the corn, mushrooms and jalapeno. Cook until the mushrooms begin to turn golden brown, stirring frequently. Remove from heat; set aside.

TO PREPARE THE SOUP:
Bring broth to a boil in a 2-gallon stockpot. Stir in roux. Simmer until thickened, stirring frequently. Stir in vegetable mixture, parsley, salt, black pepper, white pepper, nutmeg and cayenne. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally.

Add chicken, wild rice and whipping cream and mix gently. Cook just until heated through, stirring occasionally.

TO SERVE:
Ladle into soup bowls. Sprinkle with the almonds.

Source: Famous Dave's Backroads and Sidestreets by Dave Anderson