Turkey Soup!

It's getting to be the time of year where we get a lot of "Soup Weather" here in Virginia. You know, the kind of weather that makes you want to put on an LL Bean sweater, listen to soft jazz, and eat some fantastic soup?

So this week, I dragged out a turtleneck and some Kenny G CDs (hahahahaha...no, really), and made some soup with a leftover turkey breast that I roasted on Saturday. And kids, this is a soup you must try for yourself!

I cut up some carrots, celery, onion, and garlic, into big chunks, and sauteed 'em in a large stock pot with a little olive oil. Then I tossed in the turkey breast carcass, and filled the pot up with enough water to cover the turkey. Brought it to a boil, and then let that sucker simmer until it reduced by at least half. At this point, I added some herbs - parsley, sage - and pepper, but only a TEENY bit of salt. If you add too much salt now, the broth will be extremely salty at the end (because you're going to boil off most of the water, which will concentrate the salt).

After that, I strained it, and put it back into a clean pot. (You can reduce it again if you want a super-concentrated turkey stock.) I was expecting to have to skim the fat off as well, but there wasn't much; I didn't leave a lot of skin or meat on the carcass.

The next steps turned that broth in to fo' reals soupy goodness. I added:

Chick peas (garbanzo beans)

Corn

Celery

Carrots

Diced tomatoes (canned, drained well)

It just occurred to me that rice would be a great addition, or some fresh spinach (it'll wilt as soon as it hits the hot broth). Might try that next time.

I also dumped in a container of chicken stock (LOW SODIUM!), just because there wasn't quite enough liquid for all those veggies.

Then, I added the leftover turkey meat - I had about 1/2 a pound. I grabbed a spoon and took a slurp. It tasted SO good, but needed a little seasoning, so I added some more parsley and sage, along with a little more salt.

Here's the end result:

Man-o-MAN, was this tasty! And it's pretty healthy, thanks to all the veggies. It really hit the spot on a cold, drizzly December day. Give it a try next time you have a leftover bird.