Soup Day & First Snow - November 26th
Channel: Mailer's Landing
Date: 2021-11-29

Act I - Snow Birds
Act II - Chopitty-chop-chop
Intremezzo - In Which I Grind Pepper Forever
Act III - Dinner Is Served

Growing, building and cooking in New England, zone 6b

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Music by Daily Mouse 2003

_Leftover Turkey Soup_ (serves 12)

2 large or four small leeks, white and light green parts only, split, cut into 1” pieces, and rinsed well
1 large bulb or 2-3 small bulbs of fennel, cut in half, and then in ¼” pieces
2-3 parsnips, peeled and cut into ¼’ rounds
6Tbsp butter or oil (canola or olive)
12c turkey stock
4-6c shredded turkey meat
Salt & Pepper
1 Bay Leaf (optional)

1. In a large stockpot, melt the butter (or warm the oil until it shimmers). When butter is melted and  foamy, add your veggies, one or two fat, four-finger pinches of salt, and a bunch of freshly ground pepper. 
2. Once the leeks have started to turn translucent, add in your stock. If you’re adding the bay leaf, now’s your moment ~.o Simmer until the parsnips have softened a bit, but aren’t falling apart. 
3. Add the turkey meat, simmer a few more minutes to warm the meat through. Serve with rice. Enjoy!

Notes:
If you don’t have time to make stock, no worries - it works well with store-bought too. If you’re feeling ambitious and want to make your own stock, here’s how I do it:
Put the carcass in a pot large enough to cover with water to an inch above the bird. Add 2-3Tbsp peppercorns and 3-4 bay leaves. Allow to *just barely* simmer 8-10 hours. Add 2-3 quartered onions, the top half of a celery bunch (with the leaves!), 3-5 halved carrots, and any other veg you’d like (I have a friend who insists on adding a halved apple!) - if you’ve been saving kitchen scraps in your freezer for an occasion, now is your moment; toss it in still frozen, you’re good! Simmer for another hour. Strain through a couple layers of cheesecloth and pop into the fridge - in the morning you should be able to scrape off most of the fat that has risen to the top overnight. It may be a little gelatinous, and that’s perfectly ok, it just means that you got a bunch of collagen out of the bones (healthy!)  At this point, you can cook with it, freeze it, or pressure can it.