This is the kind of meal that comes together with help from an empty refrigerator. Usually the last two items left are a few carrots and celery. While I typically make stock, I was on a mission to use a small amount of wild rice that I found pushed to the back of my pantry.
It takes certain recipes for me to enjoy wild rice. I've had numerous wild rice dishes where the flavor was off. For this wild rice soup, the balance of sweet from the carrots and body from the wild rice makes for one delicious soup.
The carrot and wild rice combination is good. I'm not big on the flavor of wild rice, but the sweetness from the carrots help balance the earthiness of the rice. However, there are a few swaps you can make. I recommend striving to keep the balance of the sweetness and earthiness- it really rounds out the soup.
Vegetables: In addition to or as a substitute for the carrots, use sweet potatoes, potatoes, or root vegetables. Parsnips and rutabagas are quite lovely with the wild rice as well.
Greens: Once the soup is mostly done, stir in kale, chard, or spinach and let wilt. Adds a nice pop of color!
Rice: Not a fan of wild rice? Long grain brown rice will work in this soup, just plan to add a few extra splashes of broth as needed.
I find myself always pairing carrots with grains. The combination of the earthy/sweet carrots works well with most grains and can come together to form a wholesome meal. Plus, carrots work with minimal (or no) cooking- a big plus in my kitchen. Also, I recommend looking for different varieties of carrots- they all have different flavors. A few of my favorite easy carrot recipes:
Cumin Braised Carrots with Chickpeas
Pickled Carrot and Hummus Sandwich
Roasted Carrots with Couscous and Gremolata
Perfect recipe- so delicious!
Thanks for the recipe idea Erin! It seems to me that more often than not I find myself in the situation where I go to the fridge and I just don't seem to have that much in there! I feel like this recipe can come in handy for times like that. Healthy, simple, and easy to make. Fantastic!
Overall, I think the recipes is great, but the zest and the lemon ruined the soup for me. Maybe adding it in moderation would've been better but it tasted far too lemony when I finished it with the lemon. Next time for my recipe, I will be excluding the lemon or only adding 1-2 tablespoons. A whole lemon was too much.
Yikes! I've been trying to go back through recipes and specify better amounts for things like lemons (lemons have a wide range of zest/juice to produce). Just added new amounts and apologies for the extremely lemony soup.