It’s Thanksgiving Week and the forecast is for cool/cold weather on the weekend. Every year at this time we warn you not to buy a bunch of stuff to serve at your tailgate party. Use what’s left of your Thanksgiving turkey to provide a warm and hearty turkey soup that everyone will love. For a sweet desert you can serve slices of pumpkin pie that are also a leftover.
Easy Turkey Rice Soup
Ingredients
1 leftover turkey carcass (from a 12ish pound turkey)
½ gallon of water
1 medium onion, cut into quarters
1/2 teaspoon salt
2-3 bay leaves
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup uncooked long grain rice (or even add some wild rice if you want)
1/3 cup chopped celery
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup of other chopped vegetables from dinner
1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
Preparation
Place the turkey carcass in a stockpot; add the water, onion, salt and bay leaves. Slowly bring to a boil over low heat; cover and simmer for 2 hours.
Remove and cool the carcass; cool. Strain broth and skim fat. Discard onion and bay leaves. Return broth to the pan. Add the carrots, celery and chopped onion; cover and simmer until rice and vegetables are tender. Remove turkey from bones; discard bones and cut turkey into bite-size pieces. Then cool the liquid mixture overnight.
Game Day
Skim off any fat from the liquid and then add turkey, rice and cream soup to broth; heat through. Pack the pot in a cooler surrounded by towels and newspapers to transport it to the game. Re-heat the pot on your grill or stove in the tailgate lot. Serve in mugs with French bread hunks. Yield: 8-10 servings (about 2 quarts).
