The “After Thanksgiving Goody Bag” wasn’t filled with what you might expect.
In my experience, typically when you leave a relative’s house after a big holiday dinner, you might be sent home with a piece of pie or maybe some leftovers ready to heat up and enjoy later. The goody bag we took home left a lot more to the imagination because it was filled with the cooked turkey carcass (yikes!), a bunch of raw carrots, celery and my mom’s (verbal) instructions on how to make her Turkey Noodle Soup.
Growing up, I always looked forward to the Turkey Noodle Soup my mom would make the day after Thanksgiving. I’m pretty sure that’s all we ate for lunch and dinner the following week! I didn’t think I could ever make it as good as she did but I figured I’d give it a whirl! Turns out, it’s fairly simple and it doesn’t just have to be an after Thanksgiving treat! We now enjoy this yummy soup a few times through the year – we just substitute chicken for the turkey.
STEP ONE: Got the carcass (yuck!) into a pot of water with some salt, pepper and other yummy spices and let it boil for a while.
STEP TWO: Cleaned and chopped the veggies to be added. Mom basically suggested a 4:1 carrot to celery ratio plus one onion. Mom said she only uses salt, pepper and Bouillon – I used that too, but opted to add some thyme, rosemary, parsley and sage also.
Amazing, while I was chopping away, the kitchen was actually starting to smell like what I remembered from childhood when my mom made her soup. I began to think I might actually be on the right track!
STEP THREE:
I scooped all of the turkey out of the pot and set it aside to sift through, then poured all of the remaining broth through a fine strainer into a bigger pot.
I opted for gloves which made the chore of pulling the turkey apart little easier! I removed the bones and tossed any gross skin or other fatty pieces away.
I was left with quite a large amount of perfectly yummy turkey!
STEP FOUR: I added the turkey, more water, and bouillon to the new pot now filled with the strained broth and got that boiling. Then I added the spices and the veggies. I let that start to boil then turned down to a simmer for a while.
FINAL STEP:
Added the noodles, let simmer for just about 10 minutes and voila! Mom’s New England Turkey Noodle Soup with a little added spice twist of my own.
“The kitchen is the heart of the home – even if said home is on wheels!” – KandE