Minnesota Wild Rice Soup by Jerry Koosman - from "Home Plate: The White Sox Favorite Recipes" (1983)

RECIPE

1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1/2 lb. mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup thinly sliced celery
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
6 cups chicken broth
2 cups cooked wild rice
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. curry powder
1/2 tsp. dry mustard
1/2 tsp. chervil
1/4 tsp. white pepper
2 cups half and half cream
2/3 cup dry sherry
chopped parsley or chives

In huge saucepan, melt butter over medium heat.  Add onion.  Cook and stir about 5 minutes or until golden.  Add mushrooms and celery.  Cook and stir 2 minutes.  Mix in flour.

Gradually add broth, stirring constantly for 5 to 8 minutes and slightly thickened.  Stir in rice, salt, curry powder, dry mustard, chervil and pepper.  Reduce heat to low.  Stir in half and half cream and the sherry.  Bring to simmer and stir occasionally.

Ladle into individual bowls and garnish with parsley or chives.  Makes 3 quarts.

From the American midwest comes this perfect-for-winter soup.  It's thick and creamy, earthy and boozy.

Minnesota native Jerry Koosman spent most of his career with the New York Mets, making his first appearance on the mound in 1967.  He was part of the Miracle Mets of 1969, and spent a dozen seasons in New York.  He pitched two-and-a-half seasons for his home state Twins before a 1981 trade sent him to the Chicago White Sox.  Koosman returned to the postseason as a member of the "Winning Ugly" White Sox of 1983, before wrapping up his career with a couple of seasons in Philly.

Koosman's recipe from Home Plate: The White Sox Favorite Recipes calls for massive quantities of ingredients, so I cut it in half and still got a lot of soup.

Rice and mushrooms are fast friends and go well together here.  I couldn't find any chervil, or tarragon, so I chopped up some sage as a substitute.  Everything else is pretty standard pantry stuff.  Neither the curry nor the dry mustard overwhelm the flavour of the soup, so don't be too leery.  The sherry adds another layer of flavour, but you can leave it aside and still get a tasty soup.

This variation of wild rice soup is definitely of the thick and creamy variety.  There are versions out there that call for more veggies and no cream.  I happen to have one of those recipes in another baseball cookbook so I might try that one down the road.  

EDIT: and here it is: Scott Sanderson's Wild Rice Soup.

For now, I've got tons of Kooz's soup here to last a while.

Recommended!