Reuben Dip and Chicken Wild Rice Soup

Friday night, Scot and I joined in on a wonderful potluck dinner with some friends. The theme this week was "Food from your Homeland". Everyone interpreted the theme differently, which made it even more interesting. Some people did food from their heritage. Some did food their mom used to make. Some did food popular in the city or state they grew up in. We did the last opt.

Since Scot and I have different homelands, we decided to make two dishes from each one. Scot's was Minnesota Chicken Wild Rice Soup. We followed this recipe, but not really at all. It was very nice. Here is what we actually did:

Chicken Wild Rice Soup

2 carrots, peeled and diced

2 celery stalks, peels and diced

1 small onion diced

3/4 cup all‐purpose flour

1/2 cup butter

6 cups chicken broth

1 (4.5 ounce) package quick cooking long grain

2 cooked, boneless chicken breast halves, cubed

2 cups whole milk

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

olive oil

In a large pot over medium heat, add olive oil and cook chicken. Remove from pot to cool and then dice.

In the same pot medium heat, cook carrots, celery and onion in more olive oil for about 5 minutes. Add butter and flour to make a roux. Cook for about 2 minutes to remove flour taste. Add chicken broth and bring to a bubble. Let cook for about 5 minutes until it thickens. Add rice and reduce to a simmer. Cook until done (about 20 minutes). Add chicken,

milk, salt and pepper. Serve when all warmed through.

Printable Version

Mine was a Reuben dip that I found on Closet Cooking. Duh, Reubens were invited in Omaha. Proof here. We decided New York has enough, let Omaha have this one. I love a Reuben. Seriously! Remember when I was going on and on about pickles? Well, I must have a thing for brines because I am equally in love with corned beef. One of the reasons I love St. Patrick's day. The ingredients in a Reuben are some how magical. Who would think corned beef, swiss cheese, sauerkraut, rye bread and thousand island dressing could be so good? Go Reubin! Anyways, this dip is just all of those things in one. Oh and really healthy. I actually quadrupled the recipe below. Closet Cooking does do a nice job of writing recipes for 2 people, so check his blog out! However, I wanted enough to share. I think doing 4 x's the recipe is the perfect amount of dip for one loaf of rye bread.

Reuben Dip by Closet Cooking

(makes 2 servings)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup corned beef (diced)

1/4 cup sauerkraut (squeezed and drained)

1/4 cup Swiss cheese (shredded)

4 ounces cream cheese (room temperature)

3 tablespoons mayonnaise

1 tablespoon ketchup

1 tablespoon horseradish (or mustard)

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Directions:

1. Mix everything in a large bowl.

2. Pour the mixture into a baking dish.

3. Bake in a preheated 350F oven until bubbling on the sides and golden brown on top, about 20 minutes.

Serve with small pieces of rye bread, obv.

Printable Version

Here were some of the other tasty dishes from the potluck. Perogies representing Polish-ness, Roadkill meatballs from Tennessee, Bison meatloaf from a NY mom, twice baked potatoes from a MI mom. Not pictured Boulder Canyon chips from Boulder! and crab dip from Maryland.