Easy Post Holiday Soups to Gobble
I’m going to make a stock statement (literally) and say nothing makes a delicious soup like homemade stock or broth. That’s why I regret having neglected to write before Thanksgiving that if turkey was on your menu, DON’T THROW OUT THE BONES! Put them in a slow cooker or stock pot, with some vegetables if you like, cover with water, et voila, in a few hours you have enough delicious broth for one and possibly two big pots of soup.
Given that I’m writing this five days after the holiday, those reading fall into roughly three categories:
Kitchen Pro: You already knew this and made broth right away, which is awesome.
Still Have That Carcass: You’re either still cutting down leftovers or just have the bones in the fridge. You still have time to go for it!
Thanks for the late tip, dork: Folks who tossed the bones and are now shaking their fists in my general direction. Never fear, you can file this away for the next time.
So why do I say homemade broth is so much better? First, it is, to use a popular phrase, small batch, made to your own specifications, and you know exactly what is going in there and where it came from. It stands to reason it’s going to be a direct hit for you compared to even the best store-bought broth, made in a factory by the bazillions of gallons with recipes aimed at the broadest appeal.
Second, for a lot of us, there is a nostalgia thing involved. Chances are if you make broth at home, you learned it from a parent or grandparent. You take that first tasting spoonful and it’s like eating a memory.
Third, you are getting more value out of your food purchase by repurposing the bones. To get broth (and avoid paying for it in a package), just add water.
Hot tip: Avoid the temptation to salt your broth. When you are making a soup, you can add salt then, and you limit the risk of over-salting.
Here are a couple of off-the-cuff ideas for soups that I made with my Thanksgiving turkey broth. And you can certainly make these soups with chicken broth (preferably homemade), vegetable broth (if you eschew meat), or water.
Another hot tip: Most recipes will tell you to sauté all the vegetables from raw in the soup pot. But here is a little time-saving shortcut. If you cook carrots or other hard vegetables from raw, they take longer and you run the risk of overcooking some of the softer veggies (like onions). Instead, I cube and then steam the harder vegetables until they are just getting soft, then add them to the soup pot. Really cuts down on the cooking time and work.
Old-fashioned turkey vegetable soup: This is an example of how easy it is to make soup at home (seen in the photo at top).
Chop and steam three carrots and two or three stalks of celery.
While that’s happening, heat a splash of olive oil at medium, then sauté a chopped onion til it starts to soften.
Add one chopped zucchini and sauté until it starts to soften.
Add as much leftover turkey, cut into small pieces, as you want.
Add the steamed vegetables, add salt (a little at a time) and other seasonings (your call), stir and let cook a few minutes until everything is hot. (I added a handful of minced fresh parsley, but that’s optional).
Add broth to cover, taste and correct the salt and seasonings, turn heat to high until it starts to boil, then reduce heat to medium-low for about 20 minutes.
Boom. It’s soup.
Pureed Vegetable Soup with Turkey Broth: This is only a little more complicated because it has more vegetables, no meat, and you hit it with a blender at the end. Still really easy.
Cut up four carrots and three or four celery stalks and steam them until just softening.
Add olive oil to the soup pot and sauté a chopped large onion.
Chop three zucchini and add to the pot, cooking until just softened.
Add the steamed vegetables plus minced parsley or any other herbs you like.
Salt (just a little) and season, add broth, taste and adjust salt and seasonings.
Turn heat to high until the soup starts to boil, then turn to medium high. After 20 minutes you’ll have something that looks like this…
If you like a chunky, brothy soup, you can stop right there. But if you love pureed soups (I do), the easiest thing to do is grab an immersion blender, aka the home cook’s best friend, and give it a whirl until it’s your preferred consistency. Or use a conventional blender (but be very careful handling hot soup). Either way the final product looks like this (and tastes much better than it looks).
By now, you may be thinking, who the heck is this guy to be making like a cookbook author? If that’s you, throw down the gantlet and send me your recipes (with photos if you got ‘em) at bob@localfoodforum.com. I’d be happy to share them with our little community.