Chicken and Sweet Onion Soup

Lets rewind to the beginning of February, when I had just posted my honey mustard chicken with olives and spring onions recipe, and I made a mental 'February resolution' that I would not let this month get as bad as January, and that I would post more than 4 times. What a joke, right?

But I promise, I have a good excuse! It's a really good one: I'm not mentally stable. Told you it's a good excuse! Maybe I should explain. You see, the day I posted that recipe I made this soup, and it was really really good. Delicious, actually. I didn't get a single complaint - and I was happy, that I was on the right track of posting things more regularly. And then I got crazy and the next day decided that Mustafa and I should get married in 7 weeks. 7 weeks. No mentally stable person could come up with that decision, right? So after that, life got kinda busy (as I'm sure you can imagine) and this recipe sat here waiting for me to have the time to tell you all about it.

And the time is now, on this Saturday morning where I've been in bed for the last 2 hours (and I'm not even a little ashamed) enjoying the silence and the relaxing before my busy week starts up again and I'll be left with nothing to post here (again). So about this soup - I made it a couple of weeks ago when Mustafa was quite ill and he needed some soup (maybe his illness affected our decision making skills? you never know). I changed it quite a bit: I added chicken, used homemade chicken stock, changed the herb quantities a bit, instead of using a herb bundle just chucked the herbs right in there and swapped Gruyere cheese for blue cheese. And we loved it just like that.

Chicken and Sweet Onion Soup

Adapted, quite a bit, from here

(Serves 4)

100 grams wild rice, uncooked

500 grams chicken, cooked and shredded

2-3 tablespoons butter

4 sweet onions, halved and thinly sliced

1.5 litres chicken stock

3 tablespoons chopped chives

4 tablespoons chopped basil

3 tablespoons chopped parsley

3 tablespoons chopped tarragon

4-8 slices of baguette (depending on how many you want)

100-400 grams grated Gruyere cheese (depending on how many slices of baguette you use, and how cheesy you want it)

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Cook the wild rice in a small saucepan according to package directions. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a low simmer and cover the pot. Forget about it and let it cook until the rice is tender and the water is absorbed, about 45 to 60 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in the bottom of a wide deep pot over medium-low heat. Add the onions, toss to coat them in the butter and cover the pot. Reduce the heat to low and let them slowly soften for around 10-15 minutes. After 15 minutes, uncover the pot, turn up the heat slightly and season the onions with a bit of salt and pepper. Cook onions, stirring frequently, for another 15 to 25 minutes, until they are tender, and slightly browned, but not burnt. Add the stock and simmer for 20 minutes. Around this time the wild rice should be done, so take it off the heat and set aside. Stir in the herbs and chicken, and adjust seasonings with additional salt and pepper, if needed.

Heat oven to 205°C (400°F). Brush both sides of the baguette slices with oil. Sprinkle some Gruyere cheese on top, and bake on a baking sheet until light golden brown, about 10 minutes. 

To serve, divide the rice among four bowls, and ladle broth and onions on top. Float croutons in the center of each bowl, and sprinkle with more pepper. Eat immediately.