Ooooooh my gosh. MAH-JOR food coma. Distended stomach last night. It wasn’t cool at all. At the last minute we gained my sister’s family for Thanksgiving, so I could quit whining about how no one wanted to come over. 12 is a pretty good sized dinner- right?
We capped a grotesque eat-a-thon with a rowdy game of wine fueled scrabble. I won. I freaking love scrabble. But my brother-in-law was close on my heels, and since English is like his 4th language, he probably should have won by de-fault or something.
Everyone was horrified by Pete and I as we shuffled everyone out at like 9:30. We were snoring by ten. We are so old and tired. That’s mostly how I feel today as I stare at the mess that used to be my kitchen. Old and tired. Which is why I am so glad that I can sip on this cozy soup that I made this past week, because I am a weird food blogger that makes Holidays several times over, not just on the holiday- you know. So this is Turkey-left-over soup, and it is wonderful.
If you are anything like my super organized sister, you maybe took the carcass straight from the carving board and threw it directly into a stock pot with water? (For the record- I would never think to do this. I leave it in my fridge for days and take up all the room and then finally slop it into a too small pot. My sister is very efficient, and this was a very smart thing to do.) So once you have your stock and your turkey leftover chunks, you can make this great soup.
Ok- I will stop talking now. Too tired, must reserve energy for cleaning. Enjoy!
To make this soup, this is what you do:
In a large heavy pot set over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the leeks and sprinkle with salt, and then sweat for about 5 minutes.
Add all of the rest of the vegetables and stir with the leeks and butter. Add the water to the vegetables, add a lid and simmer on low heat for 20 minutes.
Add the Turkey Carcass and any pan drippings that are left to the pot. Add a lid to the pot and raise heat to medium-low and simmer 40 minutes.
After the 40 minutes are up, carefully remove the carcass with tongs and discard. Add the pasta and return the lid for 10 minutes.
Add the fresh thyme and the parsley, and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Enjoy!
Recipe: Turkey, Leek, Butternut Squash Noodle Soup
Ingredients
- -3 tablespoons butter
- -2 cups leeks, thinly sliced
- -2 cups celery, thinly sliced
- -1 cup carrot, thinly sliced
- -3 cups butternut squash, peeled and diced
- -12 cups water
- -Turkey Carcass (Optional)
- -4 cups cooked turkey, cut into bite size pieces
- -1 ½ cups small cut pasta (I used Acini Di Pepe, but Orzo would work too)
- -1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
- -½ cup fresh parsley, minced
- -Kosher salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
- 1. In a large heavy pot set over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the leeks and sprinkle with salt, and then sweat for about 5 minutes.
- 2. Add all of the rest of the vegetables and stir with the leeks and butter. Add the water to the vegetables, add a lid and simmer on low heat for 20 minutes.
- 3. Add the Turkey Carcass and any pan drippings that are left to the pot. Add a lid to the pot and raise heat to medium-low and simmer 40 minutes.
- 4. After the 40 minutes are up, carefully remove the carcass with tongs and discard. Add the pasta and return the lid for 10 minutes.
- 5. Add the fresh thyme and the parsley, and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Preparation time: 15 minute(s)
Cooking time: 1 hour(s) 20 minute(s)
Number of servings (yield): 12
Print Recipe
Such a pretty soup Heather! Hopefully you have recovered from the feast 🙂
Thanks Marla!
Sounds delicious! This year the local news kept showing how many miles it takes to run off the typical Thanksgiving dinner~30 and how many days of calories one dinner is worth~2. Completely shocked me. Since I only walk, that would probably mean I would need to walk the dog from Sacramento to San Francisco and back again.
That is disturbing and I am sure accurate! I think I may have to do my 3 day cleanse next week so that I can fit in any clothes for Christmas parties. I am really, really full!
what a comforting bowl of goodness. I love the idea of putting the whole carcass in the pot!!
This looks like a great way to use up those leftovers! Thanks!
I have SO much left over turkey. I am totally making this!
I may have to make this now with the leftover chicken I have on hand!
Happy Holidays Heather!
Thank you for this lovely recipe. My daughter and I will be enjoying this turkey leek soup for lunch at work all week!
Christine and Sarah
Oh great Christine! thank you!
This is the best soup!!’ It is so healthy, delicious, and comforting at the same time. My husband made it for me tonight because I couldn’t breathe I am so sick, and everything cleared up. Just what the doctor ordered.
He used Israeli couscous instead of pasta and it was awesome. On my second and third helping, I put a little hot sauce on it
The website blurb says everything here is gluten-free, but pasta is definitely not gluten free by default! It usually contains both wheat and egg (yes, even regular pasta that aren’t “egg noodles”). If you prepare this for someone with those dietary restrictions, swap in whole quinoa or rice.
There are tons of different varieties of gluten-free pasta available.