Turkey noodle soup

Good for what ails you!  And tastier than chicken soup.

Turkey may not be the most traditional January food, but it is at our house:  my husband gets a free turkey at Christmas from his boss.  Of course, we are on PEI at Christmas time, so the work-turkey chills out in the freezer until we get back.  As the food memories of Christmas fade away, we decide we are in the mood for turkey once again, and we end up with this:

Now, our St. John's family only consists of the two of us.  The turkey was an 18 pounder.  Despite having four guests over for  dinner, there was a fair bit of fowl left.  So, what to do with all the leftover goodness of the turkey?  My husband was convinced none of it would go to waste.  He decided to make a stock from the bones.

The next logical thing to do with the turkey stock was soup (getting more to the point of this post!).  We didn't record exact measurements, but between Mike and I, here is the recipe:

Turkey noodle soup

3.5 litres homemade turkey stock (fat skimmed off)
3 cups roast turkey, chopped
1 turnip/rutabaga, cubed (1.5 cm)
4 large carrots, cubed (1.5 cm)
4-5 ribs of celery, halved lengthwise, then diced
2 medium onions, diced
1 pkg No-Yolks fine egg noodles (makes a very noodly soup)
Fresh sage and thyme, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Salt, to taste

Instructions:  Begin heating stock in a large soup pot over medium-high heat.  In a frying pan, soften onions in a small amount of canola oil or butter (about 5 minutes).  Add to stock along with fresh pepper and salt to taste.  Bring stock to a simmer.  Once simmering, add root vegetables (turnip, carrot).  Cover, and continue to simmer until root vegetables begin to soften, about 15 minutes.  Add celery, cover, and simmer another 5 minutes.  Add turkey, thyme, sage, and further salt and pepper to taste.  Increase heat slightly to bring to a very gentle boil, add noodles and cook until softened, about 10 minutes.  Remove from heat.  Enjoy with your favorite bread or biscuits.  Makes ~ 10 portions.

This is definitely a soup that eats like a meal!  We had the leftovers all week and the last bowl was as good as the first.  Mike had the idea to store the soup in Mason jars (500 mL) which made for good meal-sized portions.  We noticed that when cold, the noodles seemed to absorb most of the liquid in the soup, but when re-heated, the soup became soupy again.  I should mention, we love noodles.  If you are not a huge fan, maybe just add 1/2 pkg.  Or substitute with potatoes (cook along with the other root vegetables) or rice (I'm not a rice-in-soup girl - I'm sure there are lots of tips on the web).

More soup posts here and here and here and here.  Also check out my new Food Index for better recipe browsing on the blog.