Julia Child's Chicken and Rice Soup and the Winners of Battle Mushrooms

There are so many great recipes in the book, Julia & Jacques: Cooking at Home, some of which seem too ordinary to mention on a food blog. But once one pauses to think of why recipes like that get included in such a high-profile book in the first place, one feels compelled to give these recipes a shot.

Nestled somewhere in the book, fully revealed (to all), yet somehow previously concealed (to me) is Julia Child's chicken and rice soup recipe in which she blends together cooked white rice, and chicken stock in a blender to achieve a creamy, velvety soup with no added cream.


No cream? Julia Child? No cream? This, from the woman to whom the "If you're afraid of butter, use cream," quote is attributed?

Yup.

I'm sure the idea is not to avoid added fats, but to show the versatility of the humble leftover cooked rice. In this soup that seems so ordinary, especially to those of us who grew up eating jook or rice congee of some sort almost on a daily basis, rice brilliantly mimics the mouthfeel of fat/cream. I've made this recipe with brown rice and it's just as good.


If you have any leftover rice that's too soft to turn into good fried rice, this is a great way to use it. And those dry, stringy leftover chicken breasts? Cut them into strips and give them a second chance in life in this soup.

Creamy Rice Soup with Chicken and Shiitake Mushrooms
Based (extremely loosely) on Julia's Creamy Chicken Soup with Rice
Serves 4

2 quarts chicken or vegetable stock
Roughly 2 cups of very tender, cooked white or brown rice
8-10 ounces of sliced mushrooms*
About 1 1/2 cups of cooked chicken breasts**
1 1/2 tablespoons of finely-minced shallots or onions, sautéed in 1 tablespoon of butter or oil until soft
3-4 tablespoons of clarified butter
Korean red chilli powder***

• Reserve one quart of the chicken or vegetable stock and heat the rest in a saucepan.
• Put the reserved stock in a blender along with the cooked rice and blend until smooth; pour the puréed rice into the hot stock in the saucepan.
• Bring the rice mixture to a simmer, whisking constantly.
• When the soup reaches desired thickness, season to taste with salt and pepper. (I use Thai "white soy sauce" and ground white pepper.)
• Stir in the mushroom slices and sautéed shallots; continue to cook just until the soup is heated through.
• Just before serving, mix together the clarified butter and chilli powder. Drizzle the mixture over the soup and serve immediately.****

*Fresh shiitake mushrooms are used here.
**For a vegetarian version, omit the chicken breasts.
***The kind used to make kimchee.
****Julia topped her soup with sour cream and chives.

Without further ado, I'd like to announce this month's Leela's Pick: for the 4th Beet 'n Squash YOU! monthly food fight which I co-host with Mel of Gourmet Fury. Mel has entered her Mushroom Rice Pudding with Dulce de Leche and I have entered my Crispy Satay-Favored Mushroom Cigars. The winners of our Battle Mushrooms are announced today. As always, it's hard to pick just one.

Congratulations, Don of foodieprints for winning Leela's Pick of the Month with his Braised Lamb Shanks with Mushroom Bolognese based on Chef Michael Chiarello's braised lamb shanks. He serves it up with creamy soft polenta and, minimallistically, a side of simple blanched yu choy.

Mel has picked Udon with Mushrooms Three Ways by Noodle Fever as her winner.


To see the complete roundup of all the fabulous entries, please move on over to Gourmet Fury. Thank you so very much, everybody, for participating. I've bookmarked all of your entries to try out in my kitchen over the next few weeks.

Next month's theme vegetable for Beet n Squash YOU! is ... ooh, sweet ...


Sweet potatoes!

Details here.