Summer Harvest Soup with Rice

Another delicious soup that is made with fresh local ingredients. Only drawback, as is the case with most soups or stews, is that it requires a lot of slicing and chopping. After more than 30 years of owning original Cuisinart and for the last 3 years its small brother, the Mini-Chopper, I still hesitate in using machines for soup vegetables even though it would make the job of chopping 10 times faster. Still, I do have a certain knife skills and I like the uniformity of knife chopped vegetables so I just keep slicing, dicing and chopping.

In this version I used onions, garlic, zucchini, tomatoes, parsley and thyme from my garden and from road-side farm stand I used corn and new small potatoes. Rice, oil and chicken stock came from my pantry.
Use any vegetable combination to suit your taste and have them chopped and ready. Heat oil in Dutch oven or heavy bottomed pot. Sauté onions and garlic till garlic is fragrant and onions are translucent. Add rice and cook till lightly brown making sure that onions and garlic do not burn. Do not use more than a 1/4 cup of rice for 4 servings (rice triples in volume when cooked)! Add rest of vegetables and stock, bring to boil, lower heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Season with freshly ground pepper (I always use white), fresh or dried herbs and salt if needed. Serve and enjoy!