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Thanksgiving means turkey
and turkey means leftovers. I have trouble just tossing out the turkey carcass which is ideal for making turkey soup sooooo, soup it is ! This can also be frozen to enjoy at a later date.
TURKEY SOUP
Making Stock
1. Remove all the usable turkey meat from the turkey carcass to save for adding to the soup later.
2. Break up the leftover bones of the carcass a bit, so they don't take up as much room in the pot. Put the leftover bones and skin into a large stock pot and cover with cold water by an inch. Add any drippings that weren't used to make gravy, and any giblets (except liver) that haven't been used already. Add a yellow onion that has been quartered, some chopped carrots, parsley, thyme, a bay leaf, celery tops, Bell's seasoning to taste and some peppercorns.
3. Bring to a boil and immediately reduce heat to bring the stock to a bare simmer or just below a simmer. ( If you would like to have a clear stock, do not bring the stock to a boil, but keep the stock below a simmer, as the more you simmer, the more cloudy the stock will be.) Skim off any foam that may float to the surface of the stock.
4. Add salt and pepper, about 1 tsp of salt, 1/2 tsp of pepper depending on how large your turkey is. You can always add salt to the soup later.
5. Cook for at least 4 hours, uncovered or partially uncovered (so the stock reduces), occasionally skimming off any foam that comes to the surface.
6. Remove the bones and veggies and strain the stock, ideally through a very fine mesh strainer.
7. If making stock for future use in soup you may want to reduce the stock by cooking it longer, uncovered, at a bare simmer or just below a simmer, to make it more concentrated and easier to store. You can also refrigerate the stock at this point and the fat will rise to the surface and can be removed before making the soup.
Making the Turkey Soup
With your stock already made, add chopped carrots, onions, and celery in equal parts. Add some parsley, a couple cloves of garlic. Add seasoning - poultry seasoning, sage, thyme, marjoram and/or a bouillon cube. Cook at a bare simmer until the vegetables are cooked through. You can add rice, pasta or noodles . Take some of the remaining turkey meat you reserved earlier, shred it into bite sized pieces and add to the soup.
These adorable Turkey Pops are easy to make and could be used at each place setting on a Thanksgiving dinner table.
Any appropriately colored fabric or burlap cut in a circle is placed over a tootsie pop or the like and tied with a twisted pipe cleaner.
