Roasted Turkey Noodle Soup

I love to make this soup or at least the soup stock every time I roast a turkey.  Roasting the turkey bones along with aromatic vegetables adds incredible depth of flavor and color to this deep rich soup.  Once you make this soup stock by roasting the bones and vegetables before simmering, I promise you, you will never go back to just simmering the turkey bones. The flavor is incomparable.  This stock freezes well if you want to enjoy turkey soup at a later date.

 

Turkey Stock 

Ingredients:

Carcass from a 12-18 pound cooked turkey, broken into smaller pieces

2 medium yellow onions, cut into 8 pieces

3 large carrots, cut into 1 inch pieces

4 stalks of celery, cut into 1 inch pieces              

4 large cloves of garlic

hot water

1 teaspoon black peppercorns

2 bay leaves

1 sprig of thyme

Directions:

Preheat oven to 475°F.

Spray a large roasting pan with cooking spray.

Place the turkey, onions, carrots, celery and garlic in roasting pan.

Place in oven and roast for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until bones are brown.

Transfer to a large soup pot.

Add enough hot water to the pot to cover the bones and vegetables by about 2 inches (about 4-5 quarts of water).

Add the peppercorns, bay leaves and thyme.

Cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat and simmer very gently for 6-8 hours.

Set a large colander over a large pan in the sink.

With a pair of tongs remove the larger pieces of turkey bone and discard.

Carefully pour the rest of the stock into the colander.  Lift colander to strain.

Rinse colander.

Set the colander into a large pot or bowl.  Place a fine sieve in the colander and strain the stock one more time. 

Let the broth cool about 1 hour.

Skim fat from broth and discard, or chill until broth is cold, then skim fat.

Use the broth immediately, keep refrigerated in an airtight container up to 4 days, or freeze for up to 6 months.

Makes 4 to 4 ½ quarts of stock.

Note:  I like to rinse the roaster I cooked my turkey in with hot water, scraping up any browned bits and add this to my stock before I cook it as well.  This adds a lot of additional flavor.

To Make the Turkey Soup

1 tablespoon reserved fat from turkey drippings or olive oil

Equal amounts of chopped onion, carrots, and celery.

1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley

turkey stock (from above)

turkey meat leftover from turkey

salt and pepper to taste

egg noodles, prepared according to package directions 

Instructions:       

In a large pot set over medium-high heat, melt reserved fat from turkey drippings or oil.

Add onions, carrots, celery, and parsley to the pot and sauté until vegetables are just softened, about 5 minutes.

Stir in turkey stock, and cover and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes.

Season with salt and pepper if desired.

Stir in reserved turkey meat, and simmer 5 minutes to warm.

Serve soup spooned over prepared egg noodles. 

Note:  I never add the egg noodles directly into the soup as they tend to get soggy.