Thanksgiving Leftovers
Author: Rebekah Smith
This is proof that knowing a few basic tricks makes winging it in the kitchen a little less of a gamble. Using tips I've collected from cooking shows, recipes and friends, I came up with a soup made from Thanksgiving leftovers. Below is listed what I used. Use whatever leftovers you have.
Ingredients
- Turkey Carcass - From the turkey, of course!
- Rice - I used a short brown rice. I thought about using potatoes instead. Noodles would also work.
- Carrots - some end-of-the bag scraggly carrots
- Celery - 2 stocks
- Leeks - left over from a Lentils and Soba recipe that called for just the white part of the leek
- Onion -
- Mushroom stems - left over from The World's Best Green Bean Caserole that called for removing the stems
- Flour
- Vegetable stock - left over from when I made potato soup.
- Olive Oil - Extra Virgin
- Heavy Whipping Cream - the portition that wasn't used for whipped topping for the chocolate pie
- Red Wine
- Milk
Instructions
Prep
- Clean meat from turkey bones and set aside.
- Chop carrots, celery, leeks, onion or whatever vegetables you have. A consistent shape - whatever you choose - works nicely. Set aside.
Turkey Broth
- Sauté bones with a little olive oil. You can add an onion or other vegetables if you like. Stir occasionally. Don't burn but brown enough that some sticks to the bottom of the pan. When this happens turn up the heat and add enough water to cover the bottom before it burns. Be careful of the steam. Stir while scraping the browned crusty goodness from the bottom of the pan. At this point, you can add enough water to cover the bones and simmer for 20-30 minutes. For my experiment, I did this after letting the water cook down (not to a dry point), added more water and back and forth. Use a colander to separate the bones from the broth or save a dish and just carefully pour the broth into a bowl, leaving the bones behind in the pan.
Rice
- In a large pot, add a little olive oil. Cover the bottom with rice. I probably should have measured the rice, as I used more than I needed, but the soup is still quite good. Toast the rice until it smells good. Be careful to stir as not to burn it. Turn up the heat. Add enough turkey broth to cover the rice. Be careful of the initial steam this will create. As the broth cooks down, add more broth. Repeat until you've used up all of the broth and the rice has doubled in volume. For a final product, you're aiming for rice that is cooked or mostly cooked and slightly covered with liquid.
Vegetable Mixture
- In a separate pan, sauté vegetables in olive oil until it smells good.
- Stir in a big TBS of flour.
- Add vegetable stock, stirring to make it smooth, blending in a little at a time.
- Add a splash of wine.
- Drink a splash of wine.
- Add cream.
- The end product should be vegetables in a creamy sauce.
The Soup
- Add vegetable mixture to rice.
- Add milk.
- Season to taste.
Spices
- What no spices? I considered putting a curry twist on this to mimic a turkey soup recipe that my friend Nancy gave to me. I also have some Bouquet Garni that pairs nicely with poultry. In the end, I didn't season it at all. I tasted the soup and liked it just fine the way it was. However, at the table, I did find myself adding salt and pepper.