It’s fall, ya’ll. Usher the season in with this Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

This past weekend, we took a visit to Walter’s Pumpkin Patch in Burns for the first time. This patch is magical. It goes on and on with all types of play structures and activities for kids, and our visit really launched us into “pumpkin season,” as our little one calls it.

Along with pumpkin season comes soup season, which makes everyone in our home happy. I love making a big batch of deliciousness that can be heated later for lunches or a second dinner through the week. Soup season also marks the return of eating food from a bowl, which has its own cozy feel to it.

Even though the temperatures continue to be warm, our mornings are giving us a taste of the changing seasons. Fall makes my morning coffee taste better, makes evening walks refreshing to the soul and ushers in a slower pace, which always makes me smile.

As you welcome fall, give this week’s recipe — Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup — a try. Everything about this soup is delicious: It includes aromatics of fennel, leek, onion, carrot and garlic paired with hearty wild rice and chunks of chicken. With chicken stock and heavy cream as the base, you know the flavor will be divine. You can make your own chicken stock, which is always preferred. I like to make stock whenever I have a chicken (or turkey) carcass and then freeze it in quart containers for making soup later.

Serve this soup alongside a green leaf salad topped with a Dijon vinaigrette and a few apple slices, spicy pecans, goat cheese and a warm piece of bread with a generous slab of butter. Your taste buds will thank you, and you’ll know the change of the season is just on the horizon.

Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

½ fennel bulb, finely diced

3 celery stalks, finely diced

1 medium leek, finely diced

1 medium yellow onion, finely diced

1 large carrot, peeled and finely diced

4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

4 quarts chicken stock, preferably homemade

2½ cups wild rice, rinsed

2 tablespoons fine sea salt

4 cups heavy cream

4 cups (about 2 pounds) poached chicken meat from making stock

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

¼ cup chopped parsley

In a large soup pot, heat the butter over medium-high heat. Add the fennel, celery, leek, onion, carrot and garlic and sweat until soft and translucent, 3 to 4 minutes.

Add the stock and bring to a boil. Add the wild rice and salt, stirring to combine. Bring back to a simmer, cover and cook until the rice pods have opened, 25 to 30 minutes.

Add the cream, chicken, and black pepper and bring back up to a boil to combine flavors. Remove from the heat.

Divide the soup among bowls, garnish with parsley, and serve.

*Recipe adapted from At Home by Gavin Kayson posted on Epicurious.com