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The End of the Turkey in a Delicious Way – Turkey Rice Soup

Now that I have returned from visiting family for the Thanksgiving holiday and gotten caught up with some of the work I had to catch up on, I can get back to trying to do some blogging. Even though I did not cook Thanksgiving dinner at home this year, I still had some leftover turkey from a couple of the turkey meals I had tried out before Thanksgiving. With that in mind, I naturally had to come up with some different ways to use some of the turkey meat and the turkey stock that I had created with the carcass from the turkey. I have made potpie and open-faced turkey sandwiches in the past and even turkey salad but this seemed like a good opportunity to try to make a quick and easy soup. I found this recipe at Food Network for turkey rice soup that was simple, used basic ingredients and was put together very easily. This recipe assumes that you have not already made turkey stock with the leftover carcass and gives you instructions on how to do so but if you have a ready-made the stock you can simply skip over that step and get right down to making the soup.

Turkey Rice Soup

1 turkey carcass
2 stalks celery with leaves, coarsely chopped
2 carrots, coarsely chopped
1 onion, peeled and quartered
1 bay leaf
8 cups water
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery
2 teaspoons dried thyme
2 cups chopped carrots
1 cup rice
2 cups chopped leftover turkey
1 cup frozen or leftover corn
3 tablespoons fresh parsley
Salt and pepper

In a large pot, combine the turkey carcass, celery, carrots, onion, bay leaf and water and bring the mixture to a simmer. Simmer the stock for about 2 to 3 hours over medium low heat. Strain and discard all of the vegetables and bones. Reserve the turkey stock.

In a separate large pot, melt the butter over medium heat and cook the onions until they are tender, about 4 to 5 minutes. Stir in the celery and the dried thyme. Stir in the carrots and rice and toss the ingredients to coat the rice. Stir in the turkey stock and bring the mixture to a simmer. Cook the soup until the vegetables and rice are tender about 12 to 15 minutes. Stir in the turkey, corn and the parsley. Return the soup to a simmer and season the soup with salt and pepper to taste.

That is all there is to this particular recipe. You can easily make use of everything you have right in your home and have the entire meal done in under thirty minutes. It produces a very flavorful soup that you can use as a meal all on its own. You could certainly add other vegetables to the soup if you have some that are left over or just prefer having different vegetables, such as broccoli, green beans, peas or just about anything else. You could also swap out the rice and use noodles instead if you want to make a turkey noodle soup, though you will not have to cook the noodles quite as long as you would the rice in order to get them tender. Soup always goes great with some homemade bread or biscuits if you have them or even your favorite store-bought variety. You could also have your soup with a sandwich or salad to make it a more complete meal with that is what you want.

That is all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

1 Comment

Posted by MikeG on November 30, 2016 in Cooking, Dinner, Leftovers, One Pot Meals, Poultry, Rice, Soups & Stews, Turkey, Uncategorized

Tags: food network, Food Network turkey rice soup, soup recipes, turkey rice soup, turkey soup, using leftover turkey

Leftover to Warm Your Heart (and Stomach) – Turkey Rice Soup

19 Jan

The weather keeps fluctuating around here from unseasonably warm to bitter cold and then back again. It’s amazing that we haven’t all come down with lots of colds yet this winter and the weather really does seem to affect the way I want to cook. On a nice day you feel like having something like ribs or burgers or some chicken and then on the cold days we want soups and stews. Luckily, I try to cook larger meals with the intent that we will get many meals out of the leftovers. Such is the case when I made some turkey recently and then made stock with the leftover carcass and we used the leftover meat to make some nice turkey rice soup. The rice adds a nice heartiness to the dish and you can use all your leftovers or frozen vegetables to help flavor the soup and make the cooking even easier than ever.

Turkey Rice Soup

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 leek, white and light green parts halved lengthwise, sliced thin crosswise
2 celery ribs, chopped
1 pound cooked turkey meat, white and dark meat, chopped
6 cups turkey or chicken broth
2 sprigs fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
2 carrots, peeled, quartered lengthwise, and sliced ¼ inch thick
1/2 cup white rice
Salt and pepper
1 cup frozen peas
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the onion leeks carrots and celery and cook until just beginning to brown, about 5 minutes. Add the turkey meat and heat the meat through until it is beginning to brown, about 1 to 2 minutes. Remove the contents from the Dutch oven to a separate bowl and set it aside.

Wipe out the now-empty Dutch oven with paper towels and heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the white rice and cook, stirring frequently, until the edges of the rice become translucent, about 2 minutes.Add the turkey mixture back to the Dutch oven and heat through for about 1 minute. Add the turkey or chicken broth and 1 teaspoon of salt and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low add the thyme and bay leaves and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, until the rice is tender, about 12 to 14 minutes. Stir in the frozen peas and cook until they are heated through, about 5 minutes. Stir in parsley and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve.

You can just as easily do this with leftover chicken instead of turkey or even with a rotisserie chicken that you can pick up at the store to save you some effort. The great thing about using a rotisserie chicken is that you can then use that carcass to make your own stock and get the great flavor from that. It doesn’t even have to cook all day; you really only need to add some onion, celery and carrot with the carcass and a bay leaf and let it cook for about 30 minutes and you can have flavorful stock. Other leftover veggies will work in this soup as well if you want and I added some leftover green beans we had. Sauteing the rice briefly does make a difference here as it helps to keep the rice firm by firming the starches before you add the liquid so the rice will not bloat. it makes for a great quick dinner you can do any night of the week and get good flavor from your leftovers.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another new recipe. There’s still lots of good stuff to come, including a lamb recipe, a quick turkey breast recipe, baked ziti, a couple of different wings to try, skillet pizza and more. until next time, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!