No more turkey sandwiches, please!

If you still have some Thanksgiving turkey left, and I hope you do, this recipe is for you.  But if the turkey’s all gone, you can achieve a similar effect with a large, store-bought rotisserie chicken.

The stock is unconventional because it will be rapidly boiling for only one hour.  Most recipes call for simmering stock for 3-4 hours while skimming off impurities.  In this recipe, to remove the impurities you will allow the stock to settle after cooking, but before making the soup.  It’s much faster this way and surprisingly tasty, too.

The finished product is a colorful, full-flavored turkey soup.  I hope you enjoy this recipe I created especially for you.

Prep and cooking start to finish: 1 hour 30 minutes
Time you’ll spend working: about 30 minutes

1 leftover Thanksgiving turkey
4 quarts water
1 package carrots
1 package celery
1 onion
2 tablespoons black and white peppercorns
1 bay leaf
1 lemon juiced, reserve entire rind
1 cup orzo pasta
1 cup frozen baby peas
1 cup frozen corn
1 cup cilantro, finely chopped
1 tablespoon butter

For stock:
1. Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil in a large non-reactive soup pot. That means no aluminum and no non-stick! Stainless steel and anodized aluminum are best.  If you’re pot has a colander insert now is the time to use it.
2. Remove any leftover turkey meat from the Thanksgiving turkey and set in refrigerator.  The more meat is left, the better the soup.  For the best soup, you’ll want to include as much dark meat as possible.
3. Break up the leftover turkey parts and drop into pot—especially the wings and legs if they haven’t been eaten yet.
4. Add three carrots, three celery stalks and one half onion cut into large chunks to pot. Add peppercorns, bay leaf and rind of lemon.
5. Boil for 1 hour or until vegetables loose their color and turkey bones and skin look spent.
6. Turn off heat. Lift colander insert slowly out of pot to strain stock (BE CAREFUL HERE! EVERYTHING IS HOT!), or use a colander and another pot.  Reserve stock and put back into soup pot. Discard everything else.  It is OK, the veggies and turkey bones have served you well.

For soup:
1. While the stock settles and the impurities float to the top, brunoise a mirepoix. (Pronounced brun-WAH a meer-PWAH, tell your friends you did this and they’ll be impressed) That means cut into small dice 1 cup of onion, 1 cup of celery and 1 cup of carrot for the purposes of this recipe. (Usually the ratio is 2:1:1)
2. Get a bowl and a large spoon and skim off impurities now floating on top of stock. It does not have to be perfect.
3. In large sauté pan melt 1 tablespoon of butter over medium-low heat and add onions. Instead of sautéing, sweat them until the onions turn translucent, about 5 minutes.  That means no browning or jumping around in the pan!
4. Add celery and carrots.  Turn up heat a notch and cook 3 minutes. The vegetables should still be a bit crisp. Add salt and fresh cracked black pepper to taste.
5. Now for the stock.  Turn the heat back up on the large pot and add turkey, mirepoix and lemon juice.  Bring to a boil.
6. Add orzo and set timer for 8 minutes.  Keep it boiling!
7. When timer says 3 minutes are left, add peas and corn.  Keep it boiling!
8. When timer says 1 minute, add cilantro and immediately turn off heat. (If you don’t like cilantro you can substitute parsley, basil or thyme) The colors in the pot should be bright and vibrant.
9. Add salt and fresh cracked black pepper to taste (you will have to add quite a bit) and serve.

Feel free to freeze half of the soup for later.  It makes a lot!

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