Wild Rice and Chicken Sausage Stew

Ingredients

• 1 cup wild rice or wild rice blend (or rice of your choice)
• 2 ½ Tbsp olive oil, divided
• 1 onion, diced
• 3 carrots, chopped
• 3 stalks celery, chopped
• 2 parsnips, chopped
• 1 cup mushrooms, sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp cayenne
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp pepper
• 4 links chicken sausage (flavor of your choice), sliced
• 4 cups chicken broth (low or no sodium)
• 1 ¼ cup whole milk
• ⅓ cup flour

Instructions

• Cook rice according to directions, until just al dente.
• Pour 1 ½ Tbsp olive oil into a medium-sized stock pot or dutch oven. Add in onion, carrots, celery, parsnips, and mushrooms and stir. Cook for about 5 minutes, until softened. Add garlic and cook for another minute. Sprinkle in cayenne, salt, and pepper.
• In a separate medium saucepan, cook chicken sausage in 1 Tbsp olive oil over medium heat until heated through and browned a bit.
• Pour chicken stock into stockpot and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and let cook another 5 minutes. Stir in chicken sausage.
• In a separate small bowl, whisk together the flour and milk.
• Add rice to stockpot and stir in flour/milk roux.  Cook for 2 minutes.
• Taste and add more salt, pepper, or cayenne if needed.