Chicken Wild Rice Chowder

Veterans Day at the station. The ceremony, the flag, the silence. Then I cooked. Brisket again — I have been cooking competition brisket so frequently that the crew expects it, which is both a compliment and a commitment. Fourteen hours, the full production. The guys ate in the bay with the truck behind them and the flag above them and nobody talked for five minutes, which in a firehouse is the equivalent of a standing ovation.

Thanksgiving is next week. Jim and Diane are flying in on Wednesday. The annual Rivera-Johansson production. One hundred and twenty tamales (the target, anyway — some years we hit 130 if Elena gets ambitious, which she always does). Turkey, carne asada, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce with bourbon, pies. The same feast. The same fusion. The same table that is never big enough.

This year feels different, though. Not because of the food — the food is always the same, which is the point — but because of what is happening around the food. The TV segment. The competitions. The sponsorship. The Instagram following (now over a thousand, which Jessica says is "just the beginning" and I say is "a thousand more than I understand"). The infrastructure of something is being built, and I can feel it in the way you can feel a building going up — one beam at a time, slowly, until one day you look up and there is a structure where there used to be a plan.

I have not told Roberto about the restaurant yet. Not formally. He knows — he has always known, since I was thirteen years old and grilling at his side and dreaming out loud about opening a place someday — but I have not sat down and said, "Dad, I am going to do this." I think I am waiting for the right moment. I think the right moment might be Thanksgiving, at the table, with the whole family, with the tamales and the turkey and the carne asada. Or maybe the right moment is never, because the right moment is every time I stand at a grill and cook for people I love. The restaurant is just a bigger backyard. A bigger table. More people to feed.

Made butternut squash soup this week — not my usual style, not grilled, not smoked. Roasted butternut squash with cumin and chipotle, blended smooth with chicken stock and a splash of cream. Served with toasted pepitas and a drizzle of chipotle oil. The soup is warm and sweet and smoky and it tastes like November. Sometimes the grill guy makes soup. Sometimes the soup is the whole season in a bowl.

That pot of butternut squash soup reminded me that not every week needs the grill — sometimes the season asks you to slow down and let something simmer. With Thanksgiving around the corner and the whole Rivera-Johansson table to feed, I kept thinking about soups that could anchor a cold week, something with real body and warmth. This Chicken Wild Rice Chowder is exactly that: the kind of pot you put on in the afternoon and let work while you do everything else — the kind of thing Roberto would have called practical, and I call love.

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 45 min | Total Time: 1 hr 5 min | Servings: 6

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 cup uncooked wild rice blend, rinsed
3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
3 medium carrots, peeled and diced
3 stalks celery, diced
1 medium yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
Salt and black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped (for garnish)

Instructions

Cook the rice. Combine wild rice blend and 2 cups of chicken broth in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 35–40 minutes until rice is tender and liquid is absorbed. Set aside.
Sauté the vegetables. In a large Dutch oven or heavy pot, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion, carrots, and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 6–8 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more.
Build the base. Sprinkle flour over the vegetables and stir to coat. Cook 1–2 minutes to eliminate the raw flour taste. Slowly whisk in the remaining 1 cup of chicken broth, then the milk, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens slightly, about 4 minutes.
Add the chicken. Stir in the chicken pieces, thyme, smoked paprika, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Simmer over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until chicken is cooked through, about 12–15 minutes.
Finish the chowder. Stir in the cooked wild rice and heavy cream. Simmer gently 5 minutes until everything is heated through and the chowder has a creamy, cohesive consistency. Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed.
Serve. Ladle into bowls and garnish with fresh parsley. Serve with crusty bread or oyster crackers.

Nutrition (per serving)

Chicken Wild Rice Chowder — The Week the Grill Guy Made Soup