Vegetable Turkey Soup

Post-Thanksgiving week and the house smells like the turkey I've been making stock from since Friday. I always do this—roast the turkey, eat Thanksgiving, then make stock from the carcass and have it for weeks. It's the one gift the holiday gives you that isn't immediately consumed. By Tuesday the stock was done and strained and I made a turkey noodle soup that was the best version of the meal in its second iteration. Liam ate noodles with his hands and seemed to consider this an upgrade from the spoon.

Saturday pancakes this week had an audience. My mother came over on Saturday morning—she does this sometimes now, calls on a Friday to say she's coming over for coffee on Saturday—and Sean made the pancakes with her watching, which did not cause Sean any apparent discomfort because Sean is the least performatively self-conscious person I know. He just made the pancakes. My mother watched and made sounds of approbation and Liam ate his pieces and my mother ate a full plate and said "Sean, these are really good" with the sincerity of someone who makes a lot of pancakes herself and means the compliment specifically.

Sean said "thank you, Claire." My mother is Claire. He calls her Claire. It took three years. It's still a small event every time.

December is coming. Second Christmas with Liam—well, his first real one, since he slept through last Christmas in the carrier. This one he'll see. I started putting up the lights early, two weeks ahead of schedule, because I wanted him to have as much time with them as possible. He reached for the bulbs on the low branch and I let him hold one, briefly, carefully, and he looked at it with both hands and then looked at me and we stayed there for a while in the warm light.

That Tuesday soup—the one Liam ate with his hands and seemed to prefer that way—was this one, or close enough to it that I’m calling it the same. Once you have good homemade turkey stock, the soup basically builds itself: whatever vegetables are still hanging around, some broth that tastes like you actually made it, and enough warmth to carry you from November into the first lights of December.

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 40 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour | Servings: 6

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 medium carrots, peeled and sliced into rounds
3 stalks celery, sliced
2 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 cup frozen or fresh green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
6 cups homemade turkey stock (or low-sodium chicken broth)
2 to 3 cups cooked turkey, shredded or chopped
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 bay leaf
Salt and black pepper, to taste
Fresh parsley, chopped, for serving

Instructions

Sauté the aromatics. Heat olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion and celery and cook for 5 to 6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened. Add garlic and cook for 1 more minute until fragrant.
Add vegetables and stock. Stir in carrots, potatoes, diced tomatoes, turkey stock, thyme, rosemary, and the bay leaf. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
Simmer until tender. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer uncovered for 20 to 25 minutes, until potatoes and carrots are fork-tender.
Add turkey and green beans. Stir in the cooked turkey and green beans. Continue simmering for 8 to 10 minutes, until the green beans are tender and the turkey is heated through.
Season and serve. Remove the bay leaf. Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed. Ladle into bowls and top with fresh parsley.

Nutrition (per serving)

Vegetable Turkey Soup — The Gift the Carcass Keeps Giving