Turkey Carcass Soup

I loosely follow the recipe for the soup from Jane Brody”s book “Good Food.” It’s a two part recipe, first to make the stock from the bones. I put everything that’s left over in the pot including the stripped bones (meat reserved along with at least a good part one breast for the soup.) Along with the bones I use

• 2 ribs of celery
• 2 onions
• 2 carrots
• 1/2cup of well washed leek
• 1/2 cup turnip a few cloves of garlic
• All the left over gravy
• some salt and a bouquet of fresh parsley, thyme leaves and a bay leaf

I cover the whole lot in water, bring it to the boil and then let it simmer all day (at least 3 hours).

The magic happens next. First I remove the bones and then strain the broth into a pot. I separate out as much of the meat as I can (saving it for the soup.) Then with a cup or two of the broth, I puree the vegetables and save it for later in the freezer.

Next to make the soup itself, I start over with fresh veg.

• 2 TBS of minced onion
• a couple of garlic cloves minced
• 1 tbs of butter
• 1 cup diced carrots
• 1/2 cup diced celery
• 1.2 cup finely chopped mushrooms
• 1/2 tbs of flour

I melt the butter and drop the vegies. Once the vegies are softened and the liquid has come out of the mushrooms, I drop in the flour. Once incorporated, I add the stock back and bring it to a boil, then let it simmer. I add a teaspoon of marjoram and, depending on what we have around, either cooked rice or pasta or uncooked orzo. After an hour or so, I drop in the saved meat that I have chopped into bite size chucks. I finish it with hot pepper and serve it with fresh parsley and a great heavy (ideally) black bread.

One of the steps in making Turkey Carcass Soup, as noted, leaves a few cups of the most delicious stock that is great for pies or other things. We used on to make a wonderful Tiki Masala Curry.