Turkey Soup

I am slowly but surely working my way through the Thanksgiving leftovers, and the greatest of these, of course, is Turkey Soup. I hardly felt that this needed a post until I ran into a friend who said they never made it because they "didn't know how". I'm pretty sure they know how to boil things, which is all turkey soup is, but whatever...

This, then, is for that nameless friend.



1.) Fill your dutch oven with turkey stock. Bring to a boil.
2.) Meanwhile, thinly slice two or three carrots with your ultra-cool mandolin, or a not-so-cool knife.
3.) Finely dice a stalk of celery.
4.) Toss the veggies into the now-boiling pot of stock.
5.) Finely chop (or tear with your fingers) all the leftover turkey you saved from your turkey carcass before turning it into stock.
6.) Add the turkey meat to the stock.
7.) Open a bag of egg noodles, check how long they should cook, and tip them in the pot.

Note: If you listen to Rachael Ray (which I usually don't), you should cook the noodles separately if you don't plan to eat the whole pot at once. Then, just add a handful of noodles per bowl. This is sensible advice. I never follow it.

8.) Once the noodles are done and your veggies are tender, check for seasonings - kosher salt and plenty of fresh-ground black pepper.
9.) Chow down.

I know I don't give times, etc., but really, if you have good stock you can't make too big of a mess of this. You just want to heat the turkey and stock through and get the veggies and noodles really tender. If you slice the veggies thin enough (which you will if you use the cool mandolin) it doesn't take much time.

Also, feel free to experiment with onion, other veggies, herbs, etc., and you can, of course, use canned stock. My stock is very flavorful, and this is what I happen to like in my soup, but again, can't mess it up. Be creative.