Warming up in January

I set up this page so that we could share recipes and get a peek into each other's kitchens.
Now I suppose I'd better set things rolling with my own recipe. I just came back from a visit with friends in Germany. They invited us over for dinner a few times, the first time for cheese fondue and the second time for squash soup. However, since they have two small children, dinner doesn't always go as planned, so the squash soup was cut from the menu (we had a wonderful dinner of Greek appetizers instead). Still, it had started me thinking about squash soup, so when I got home, I decided to make some of my own.

Usually squash soups are creamy, and often they're a little monotonous, so I was very pleased to find a diffferent recipe that called for wild rice and mushrooms. Since it called for chanterelles and shiitakes, and I didn't have any, I made do with dried mushrooms. The results were very nice, I think:

Mushroom & Wild Rice Butternut Squash Soup

1/2 c. wild rice
2 T. butter
1 small onion
3 cloves garlic
1-2 stalks celery
2 tsp. fresh sage
2-3 stalks fresh thyme or 1 tsp. dried thyme
1 oz. dried porcini mushrooms
1 medium-sized butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cubed
2 T. dry vermouth or brandy
1 T. flour
1 c. chicken stock or water
1/4 c. half and half
salt & pepper to taste
juice of one lemon

Boil 3 cups of water and add wild rice. Cook 35-40 minutes or until rice is tender. Drain and set aside.

Pour boiling water over the dried porcinis. Let stand 30 minutes & then remove from water and squeeze dry. Pour the mushroom liquid through a sieve lined with a paper towel & reserve the liquid.

Put cubed squash into a steamer basket and steam for 10 minutes or until tender.

Melt butter & saute onions. Add chopped garlic and chopped celery and saute until transparent. Add sage, thyme, and chopped porcinis. Sprinkle flour over the mixture and saute until flour is lightly browned. Add vermouth or brandy to the mushroom water and deglaze pan with this liquid. Add chicken stock. Let simmer until mixture is thickened.

Add cooked squash, rice, and half-and-half. Adjust salt and pepper. Add lemon juice to taste.