Soup of the week, or what do we do with the turkey carcass?

 

Christmas night a lot of households will face that old question: what do we do with the turkey carcass? Some of my children roast the turkey in a disposable pan, and at the end of the meal just fold the carcass, picked as clean as reasonable, into the pan and pitch the whole thing. But I was raised by a mom who had lived through the Depression, and I grew up with a strict code of “Waste not, want not.” Mom boiled the turkey carcass. Mom also made what she called soup of the week, and it strikes me that turkey soup can easily be soup of the day, if not the week.

You really don’t need a recipe for turkey soup, though the internet is alive with them. You want to begin by simmering that carcass twenty-four hours or longer. This is admittedly something that can’t be done on a hot plate, at least not on my hot plate which automatically turns off after an hour. In my case, I’ll ask Jordan to simmer the bones in the main house. You want to add onion, celery, carrots (chunks are okay—no need to chop fine), maybe parsley, a bay leaf or two, salt and pepper so that the turkey stock has some flavor. Cover the bird with a generous amount of water, bring to a boil, and then simmer on low heat. Forever or so it seems. Your kitchen will smell wonderful.

When you are ready to make the soup, strain the broth off and finally discard that carcass and all the vegetables it cooked with. Then make your soup, and here’s where Mom’s soup of the week comes in. Don’t be limited to what a recipe says—create your own, using all those leftovers. Start with dicing leftover meat. Mashed potatoes? Stir them in—they’ll make the soup creamy. The ubiquitous green bean casserole? You might fish out the onion rings because by now they are soggy but dump in the rest of the casserole. Sweet potatoes are fine. So are almost any other vegetable you served—spinach, broccoli, turnips, carrots, peas, etc. Dressing will add great flavor. Taste for seasoning. If the broth is a bit bland, add a bouillon cube or some Better Than Bouillon. You’ll have a pot of soup that recreates Christmas dinner. And so easy! The only thing I probably wouldn’t put in the soup is cranberry in whatever form you served it. Or salad if you served one.

Creamy turkey soup with pasta

As I write, it is 15^o outside, which makes me think we’ll be eating soups for weeks to come. Want to adapt the soup of the week technique for other meals? Save even the tiniest bit of leftovers. If you’re feeding a family, you’ll probably accumulate enough leftovers for soup once a week. Rather than fill your freezer with a dab of this and a bite of that, make a soup container. Spinach casserole left one night? Put it in that container and freeze. Some chopped steak a few nights later? Dump it on the spinach and freeze. You need a bit of common sense here. Maybe start two soup containers—in Texas, we’d have one for chili, beans, things with Mexican or southwestern flavors, and another for meat-and-potatoes kinds of dishes.

To make soup: Defrost your odds and ends when you have enough. You’ll probably need something to bind them together as soup, so always keep concentrated broth (beef, chicken, or vegetable) on hand (I prefer Better Then Bouillon these days, but you can also use boxed broth or bouillon cubes) and canned, diced tomatoes. Use one or both. No matter what you use, soup of the week always seems to come out brown, but that’s okay. In Texas we’re known for brown food anyway—beef, beans, chicken-fried steak, and the like.

If you need to add to your soup pot, frozen corn is a great addition, along with frozen petite peas. Dice carrots, onion, celery (you can make a mire poix by sautéing those vegetables before adding); cooked potatoes, rice, egg noodles or even spaghetti will add bulk to your soup. I’ve read that adding cream cheese gives you a rich, creamy soup—but I have not tried. Let the soup simmer all day in a crockpot or low heat on a hot plate if you’re around to keep re-starting it. Just check occasionally that you don’t cook away all the broth. Season to taste—salt, pepper, garlic powder, herbs; cumin and oregano if you’re going for a chili or enchilada-based soup.

Leftovers? Use them to start a new soup. In fact, that bit of leftover Christmas turkey soup would make a great start on a new pot.

 

Time for some bean soup

 

 

Black bean soup

Growing up in Chicago, I knew only what Texans call “northern beans” and I was taught were Boston baked beans—we’d open a can and season it with brown sugar or molasses. Ketchup, mustard, onion. Pretty much, it was a kitchen sink dish. When I moved to Texas (well over fifty years ago), I discovered pintos. I was leery, especially of refritos, which I first ate at Joe T. Garcia’s where I was overwhelmed by dishes I’d never heard of and, at first, ate tentatively. But I learned to love TexMex and to cook pinto beans. And I gave up cooking “northern” beans. I still love them, but Bush’s Original tastes just like home to me.

In recent years, I’ve really broadened my bean menu. I learned, for instance, that I could never cook black beans soft enough. I buy the canned. And lately I’ve learned a new trick: you don’t always have to drain and rinse beans. It depends on what you’re doing with them. Before, I was a bit disdainful of that thick, syrupy liquid, but it turns out it’s packed with flavor and vitamins. I learned this making the easiest black bean soup ever. I may never do it another way. I adapted this from America’s Test Kitchen.

Black bean soup

2 cans black beans

2 cups chicken broth

1 4 oz. can green chilis

¼ cup milk (as needed—I don’t like bean soup too thin)

¼ cup plain Greek yogurt

Lime wedges and cilantro to serve

Three things are key to this soup: Do not drain the beans; process about half the beans until they are thick and smooth; be generous with the lime juice.

Simmer beans, broth, and chilis until the mixture begins to thicken. Put about half the mixture in food processor, run until smooth, and return to the pan. Simmer until heated through to serving temperature. If the consistency is too thick, thin with a bit of milk but do it gradually.

To serve: pour soup into bowls or soup plates and top with a generous dollop o f yogurt and a sprig of cilantro. Serve with lime wedges.

Want a white bean soup? Here’s one I adapted from Cook’s Kitchen. The big difference here is the use of pickled celery for garnish. My dinner guest kept saying, “I’ve never had pickled celery.” It was different and good.

To pickle celery:

½ cup rice vinegar

1 scant Tbsp. sugar

½ tsp. salt

1 celery rib, minced

           Heat first four ingredients until simmering. Add celery off heat and let it sit for fifteen or twenty minutes while you make the soup. Drain and set aside.

The soup:

2 Tbsp. olive oil

½ cup chopped onion

1 celery rib, minced

½ tsp. dried thyme

2 garlic cloves, minced

A pinch of cayenne (optional but it adds a good spark)

2 cans white beans, undrained

2 Tbsp. fresh grated Parmesan or Pecorino

2 cups chicken broth

2 Tbsp. butter

Lemon wedges

Sauté onion and celery in olive oil until soft. Add thyme, cayenne, and garlic and cook for a minute. Then add undrained beans and simmer until heated through.

At this point, use an immersion blender if you have it and want a smooth soup. If  you want some chunky beans in  your soup, remove half the beans to the processor. Add Parmesan, 1 cup broth, and butter. Process until smooth and return to the bean mixture. Stir in remaining broth a bit at a time until you get the thickness you want. Heat to desired serving temperature.

Serve in soup plates. Garnish with the celery. Serve with lemon wedges.

So guess what we’re having for dinner tonight? Rice bowls with chicken, black beans, and chopped fresh vegetables. Yep, we’ll drain those beans.

 

Up your chicken soup game

 

Chicken soup in a pot
(not my picture)

Much of the country has already seen fierce winter storms. Even in Texas, we’ve had frigid cold temperatures. But it’s only mid-January, and it’s a pretty sure bet winter isn’t done with us. In Fort Worth, we wait for “stock show weather” which usually brings ice, sleet, and snow in late January. It’s time to step up your chicken soup game.

Better than Best Chicken Soup

2 Tbsp. olive oil

½ yellow onion, sliced or diced

2 carrots, diced

2 stalks celery, sliced

Salt and pepper

1 packet dry ranch dressing seasoning

4 cups chicken broth, low sodium preferred

1 can cream of chicken soup

3 cups cooked chicken

8 oz. spaghetti, uncooked

8 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated

1 cup half and half

Heat olive oil in large soup pot and sauté onion, carrots and celery until softened Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add dry ranch mix and stir to coat vegetables evenly. Cook one minute.

Add chicken broth and cream of chicken soup. Stir together, and then add spaghetti, bacon, and chicken. Cook over medium heat for fifteen minutes or until spaghetti is al dente and veggies tender.

Add cheddar and half-and-half and cook another five minutes. Serve.

Perfect antidote to winter’s worst blast.

 

Welcoming the weary travelers home

Jordan, Christian, and Jacob have been in New Orleans. The trip, planned to see Baylor play in whatever bowl that is, was part of Jacob’s Christmas, but it was really a treat for all of them. The football game was surely a disappointment—Baylor lost to Georgia, 26-14. When I first checked the score it was 26-0, so I guess Baylor rallied which was probably heartening.

But they did the things tourists should do in New Orleans—dinner at Muriel’s, a visit to Washington Square, brunch at Brennan’s. Jordan sent me a picture of the Brennan’s menu, an obvious ploy to make me jealous. But I retaliated with a picture of the menu from my super New Year’s Dinner. I haven’t heard if they went to Pat O’Brien’s for hurricanes or had beignets at Café du Monde. So much to do in New Orleans, they may have missed some of the high points in three days.

As I write they are about an hour out, driving in light rain. So what does one do to welcome travelers home? Make chicken soup, of course. Only I made turkey soup. I’ve had a recipe in my file forever called “Crack Chicken Soup.” Sent it to a niece in the Bronx who says her children love chicken soup, and tshe reported favorably on it. But I never got around to trying it. Tonight seemed the perfect night.

\My friend Subie said the other night she wanted to make turkey soup out of the carcass of their Christmas bird, but she’d never done it. I gave her this recipe, and she hesitated a bit. “I wanted to make something healthy,” she finally said. This is definitely not healthy, with a packet or Ranch Dressing mix, cheese, and half and half. I gave Subie simple directions on how to do a clear soup, without a cream base. Couldn’t imagine she’s never done it.

Just in case: Cover the turkey carcass with water, bring to boil, and let it simmer—for hours, even overnight if you wish. Some Jewish grandmothers simmer it for days. The longer it simmers, the more flavor to the broth. Add carrots, onions, and celery if you wish. When you decide it’s done, fish out the solid parts or strain.

Sauté diced fresh carrots, onion, and celery in olive oil or butter until soft, pour in the stock if you’ve simmered the carcass or use prepared chicken stock in a box. Add diced turkey. Add spaghetti or rice or diced potato is you want. Season with salt and pepper and you should have a good soup.

Crack chicken has several different steps. When the vegetables have softened and the onion turned translucent, add a packet of Ranch Dressing. Stir thoroughly, add a can of cream of chicken soup, and the stock (about four cups). Stir the stock in slowly to incorporate the canned soup. Add eight ounces spaghetti, broken into small bits. Bring to a boil and then simmer maybe twenty minutes. Because I was delaying dinner, I let it simmer at this point a good long while. But eventually I added a cup of half-and-half and a cup of grated sharp cheddar.

Your soup is done! Surely it will welcome the weary travelers and bring us good luck in the new year.

Twelfth Night and a pot of soup

Tonight is Twelfth Night--some marked it last night on the eve of Epiphany, but my family has always celebrated it on January 6, as the night the magi arrived at the Bethlehem stable with their gifts. We each, from youngest to oldest, take a turn throwing a tiny branch of the tree into the fire and making a wish for the coming year.  You must NOT share your wish with anyone.
I've learned lately it is British custom to bake a bean and a pea into a cake; whoever gets the bean is king and whoever gets the pea is queen. If a woman gets the bean, she chooses her own king. Wonder what happens if a man gets the pea? Another part of the tradition involves pranks and chaos, but I'm not telling my family that.
There will be eight of us tonight, and I considered a roast and all kinds of things--and finally decided on a hearty soup that will use the New Year's ham. Of course, Texas weather has called for soup all week--until today. It is sunny and gorgeous, predicted to go into the high fifties. No matter the weather, we're having soup and salad--and a fire in the fireplace. Tomorrow all the Christmas decorations come down.

Here's my version of potato/ham soup. I started with a recipe and went from there, adding about twice the amount of diced ham and 8 oz. Velveeta.

3-1/2 c. diced peeled and diced potatoes
1/3 c. diced celery
1/3 c.  chopped onion
chicken broth--about 3 cups or more for consistency you want
1/2 tsp. salt (Iused an herbal salt substitute)
1 tsp. white pepper
2 c. diced ham
5 Tbsp. butter
5 Tbsp. flour
8 ox. Velveeta original

Cook potatoes, onion, and celery in broth until potato is tender. Add salt and pepper and ham.

Separately, melt butter and whisk in flour. Slowly stir in milk to make a white sauce. Stir into potato/ham mixture, along with diced Velveeta. Serve immediately when cheese melts.

Should serve eight easily.

PS. Soup was delicious. Hearty, warm and good. Wanted to post picture but Blogger has changed something and I can't figure out how to post pictures.