Left Over Turkey Soup

Serves 4

Preparation: 15 mins

Cooking Time:  50 mins

You will need a big pot for this recipe!  You may have to cut the carcass in half to make it fit.

The perfect way to use up all those delicious left overs!

You can add left over gravy, wine, stuffings, bread sauce, extra herbs - there is simply

no limit - the heady aroma and taste is really quite wonderful.

Serve with warm crusty baguette and Camembert

Ingredients:

• Large onion, finely chopped
  
• Large knob of butter
  
• Seasoning to be added later
  
• Left over veg – (or any combination of your favourite root veg)
• 2 x carrots, chopped very small
• 2x potatoes, chopped very small
• 2 x celery stalks, chopped very small
• 2 x turnips, chopped very small
• 1 x parsnip, chopped very small
  
• Good quality chicken stock (about a litre)
  
• Left over stuffing or dried sage, thyme, rosemary
  
• Bay leaves
  
• Turkey, roughly chopped
• Seasoning
• Crème Fraiche (optional)

To serve Crusty Croutons

Thick sliced bread or baguette, cut into cubes

Butter

Oil

2-4 Minced cloves of garlic

AND THIS IS WHAT YOU DO…

1. Soften well some chopped onion in plenty of butter and season with black pepper (leave out the salt as the stock usually will contain salt)
   
   
2. Chop left over veg roughly into spoon size pieces & smaller and toss in the hardest veg first eg. carrots, potatoes, turnips swede etc. and simmer for about 10 mins.   You can add extra if you want.
   
   
3. Now place the turkey carcass into the pan with the vegetables.
   
   
4. Add any other softer veg and a good strength chicken stock to cover.
   
   
5. Add any left over stuffing (or a good pinch of some dried sage, thyme and just a small pinch of rosemary), + a few bay leaves and continue to simmer for about 30 mins.
   
   
6. Add roughly chopped turkey meat and simmer for about another 10 mins.
   
   
7. At this stage, you can either just carefully remove the carcass, adjust the seasoning and your turkey soup is ready to serve.
   
   
8. However, if you want a smoother more creamy finish to your soup, then remove about half the contents of the pot with a slotted spoon and reserve. Don’t forget to take out the bay leaves!
   
   
9. Blitz the rest of the pot contents plus 2 heaped tablespoons of crème fraiche until smooth then stir back in the rest of the veg.
   
   
10. Check seasoning and adjust if necessary and add more water if too thick. Re- heat gently.
    
    
11. To make croutons, cut thick slices of bread or baguettes and cut into cubes.   Toss in a mix of oil, butter and crushed garlic and fry or bake until golden brown and super crispy Finish with some crusty croutons and a swirl of crème fraiche on the top!
    
    
12. If you don't want to make the croutons, then simply serve with warmed crusty baguette with Camembert.
    
    
13. Enjoy!!