Turkey Pasta Fagioli Soup

Turkey soup loaded with all sorts of good stuff!

About this time in late winter, I look in my freezer and discover the cache of turkey stock I made with the Thanksgiving turkey carcass. Before the warm weather returns, it needs to be reincarnated as a delicious soup. Though the weather isn't nearly as cold now, it can still be blustery, wet, and excellent "soup weather." This recipe makes a lot of soup, but you can make a half batch if you don't want so much of it. The full batch is great for a party!

I created this soup to use up the stock and some frozen cooked turkey too. It's a meal in a pot, with white beans, pasta stars, and lots of vegetables. If you don't have cooked turkey in your freezer, get thickly sliced deli turkey breast and cut into bite-sized pieces.

Turkey Pasta Fagioli Soup
(serves 12)

3 oz. pancetta, diced
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 large carrots, cut into half-moon slices
1 stalk of celery, sliced plus ½ cup chopped celery leaves (or use 2 stalks)
2 cloves garlic, minced
¾ teaspoon black pepper
1 Tablespoon salt (if using a salted stock, use 1½ teaspoons)
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon dried rosemary, crumbled or use 1 6" long sprig of fresh rosemary
2 cups diced tomatoes, either fresh or canned
10 cups turkey stock
¾ cup pasta stars (or any other small pasta shape like alphabet pasta)
1 14-oz. can white beans, drained and rinsed
8 oz. cooked turkey, chopped into bite sized pieces
freshly ground pepper plus any of these optional garnishes: grated Parmesan cheese, chopped parsley, extra-virgin olive oil

Heat the oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the pancetta and cook until the pancetta fat renders out. Add the onion, carrots, celery, and garlic. Sauté until onions are wilted. Add pepper, salt, bay leaf, rosemary, tomatoes, and turkey stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to maintain a simmer. Partially cover and cook for 45 minutes. Add the beans and cooked turkey.

While the beans and turkey are getting hot in the soup, bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until just al dente (check the box for the time needed for your pasta shape). Drain well. Once everything in the soup is hot, add the pasta. Taste for salt. Add garnishes as you serve the soup.

Turkey Mushroom Burgers

Turkey burgers are a tricky thing. Turkey is so lean that by the time the turkey is cooked through, your burger is as dry as sawdust. Poultry products need to be cooked to 170°F  and that's high enough to start forcing the moisture out of the proteins. Adding fat is one way to keep the burgers from drying out. Bread products can help as well, but too much and your burger gets gummy and the meaty flavor is lost. I like to add mushrooms because they have a texture that resembles meat and add their own meaty flavor. The downside is that they don't hold together as well as meat or bread. Grilling them is not easy. I panfried them because these burgers are rather delicate. Sorry, grilling fans.

Turkey Mushroom Burgers
(serves 4-6)

4 Tablespoons oil
1 onion, peeled
8 oz. mushrooms, wiped clean (see Note)
2 cloves garlic, peeled
2 slices whole wheat bread, crusts removed
1 pound ground turkey
1 large egg
3 Tablespoons minced fresh dill
1 ½ Tablespoons coarse deli or Dijon mustard
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper

Heat 2 Tablespoons oil in a large cast-iron or non-stick skillet over medium-low heat. Coarsely chop the onion, then mince finely in a food processor. Add to the skillet and cook gently while you prep the mushrooms. Coarsely chop the mushrooms and then mince using a food processor. With the food processor running, throw in the garlic cloves to mince. Dump into the skillet with the onions and cook for 10 minutes.

While the mushrooms are cooking, coarsely chop the bread and pulverize to fine crumbs in a food processor. When the mushrooms are done, remove from the heat and mix in the bread crumbs. Allow to cool. Place the mushroom mixture, turkey, egg, dill, mustard, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Mix until uniform.

Wipe out the skillet. Heat the remaining 2 Tablespoons of oil over medium heat. Divide the turkey mixture into 4 to 6 portions and form into burgers. Cook burgers until browned on both sides and no longer pink in the center, if in doubt use a thermometer to assure the center reached 170°F.

Serve on a bun as a burger but it's also good served as a mini-meatloaf. Leftovers are delicious cold.

Note: You can use any kind of mushroom but porcini, portobellos, cremini, or white mushrooms will add a nice meaty flavor.

Turkey Meatballs in Spicy Tomato Sauce

I'm running a bit late on my "celebration" of holidays. Here it is Memorial Day, and I'm just getting around to posting my Cinco de Mayo recipe. Sometimes life intervenes.

The recipe I've adapted here used ground pork. I didn't have any. But, I did have ground turkey. Guess what? Turkey is totally Mexican. In fact, the turkey was the biggest domesticated animal (well, besides the dog) until the Europeans dropped pigs, horses, cattle, and sheep on North America. You can use whatever ground meat you have.

I don't fry my meatballs. You can if you like. Baking them in a hot oven makes a lot less mess and requires no supervision so I prefer it to frying on the cooktop.

Turkey Meatballs in Spicy Tomato Sauce
(serves 4-6)

Meatballs
1 pound ground turkey (not extra-lean)
1 medium onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup ground almonds
½ cup fresh bread crumbs
1 egg
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon dried Mexican oregano
1 Tablespoon dry sherry
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper

non-stick cooking spray

Sauce
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
1 medium onion, minced
½ green pepper, diced
½ red pepper, diced
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon sugar
1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes, drained
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
⅓ cup beef stock
¼ cup dry sherry
¼ teaspoon black pepper
salt
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

Preheat oven to 400°F. Combine all the meatball ingredients in a bowl. Spray a rimmed cookie sheet with cooking spray. Form mix into 1 ½" meatballs and place on the cookie sheet. Spray the meatballs with cooking spray (you can skip this step if using a fattier meat than turkey). Bake the meatballs for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.

Heat the oil in a saucepan. Sauté the onion, peppers, and jalapeno for 5 minutes until the onion is golden. Add garlic and cook until fragrant. Mix in the sugar, tomatoes, cayenne, sweet paprika, black pepper, and ½ teaspoon salt. Bring to a simmer. Mix in the beef stock and sherry. Bring to a boil. Add the meatballs. When the sauce returns to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook for 20 minutes, uncovered, until sauce is thick. Add salt if necessary; you may not need any if your beef stock is salty. Garnish with chopped cilantro. Serve over rice or pasta. Also good served as an appetizer sprinkled with a bit of mozzarella cheese.

Recipe adapted from The Book of Mexican Foods by Christine Barrett, HP Books, 1991.

Photo credit: By കാക്കര (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Thanksgiving is Coming!

My most beautiful turkey ever. OK, it looks like this every year. Tastes even better than it looks.

Yep, right around the corner now. Starting to think about that big holiday menu? Not me! I'm going to visit family so I'm not responsible for the bird, etc. this year. That's not to say I don't have recipes for you. Here are links to Thanksgiving posts from years past to give you some ideas:

Thanksgiving 2010: a mix of recipes pulled from various places.
Turkey Brining: how I've done it though I don't always bring mine because the drippings become too salty for gravy.
Turkey Cooking: how to roast that bird.
Icebox Cake: a rather non-tradtional Thanksgiving dessert originally from Fine Cooking.
Masa Cornbread Stuffing: Delicious Southwest-inspired stuffing. Really dressing since you don't stuff the bird with it.
Buttermilk Rolls: impress your guests with homemade rolls.
Apple Sausage Stuffing: two Thanksgiving classics, apples and turkey.

Leftovers
The Turkey Carcass:  Stop! Do not throw out that carcass. Make stock.
Turkey and Corn Chowder: place to use both stock and turkey meat
Turkey and Wild Rice Soup: turkey and wild rice, two American natives.
Turkey Curry: from my other blog, School of Eating Good.

Hope your Thanksgiving meal is filled with many delicious dishes and good company!

Turkey Thighs in Herbed Tomato Sauce

In November I posted a recipe for polenta. Back then, I said that the polenta is only part of the recipe. The main recipe is turkey thighs cooked in a tomato sauce flavored with dried porcini mushrooms and dried herbs. The porcini is a key element so, though it's an expensive ingredient, don't leave it out. Turkey thighs have a rich, gamey flavor that I love and they go nicely with the woodsy porcini. This is a hearty dish, particularly when you serve it over some stick-to-your-ribs polenta.

Turkey Thighs in Herbed Tomato Sauce
from Rick Rodgers' The Turkey Cookbook
(serves 4)

Turkey and Wild Rice Soup

I think turkey and wild rice go together exceptionally well. They are both native Americans. One can imagine that they have been served together in the Upper Midwest for many centuries. 


Wild rice is not a true rice, but it is close relative. It is an aquatic grain native to the Great Lakes and wet forested areas in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. Much of it is no longer "wild" as it is grown commercially in California. When I am very good, my dear friend Kasja brings me wild rice from Minnesota, where it is the state grain.


This is a hearty soup, perfect for a post-Thanksgiving dinner. Just add crusty bread.


Turkey and Wild Rice Soup
(serves 4)


1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 carrot, peeled and diced
1 small onion, peeled and diced
4 cups turkey stock
1/4 cup wild rice, rinsed
1 16 oz. can white or yellow hominy, drained
1 cup diced cooked turkey (optional)
3-4 tablespoons chopped cilantro
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 to 1 teaspoon kosher salt


1. Heat oil in a 4 quart saucepan over moderate heat. Add carrot and onion. Saute until onion is translucent.
2. Add stock and wild rice. Bring to a simmer, reduce heat and cook partially covered for 1 hour. Wild rice takes quite a while to get tender. If the rice has absorbed a lot of the stock, add 1-2 cups of water.
3. Add hominy and turkey (if using). Cook for about 5 minutes until hominy and turkey are heated through.
4. Add cilantro, lime juice, pepper and salt to taste. If your stock is unsalted, you will need at least 1 tsp. If your turkey was brined, the stock will be seasoned with some salt already and you'll need less.
5. Serve hot. 


Link to PDF of the Turkey and Wild Rice Soup

The turkey carcass

Is that turkey carcass still hanging out in the fridge? What are you waiting for? That's a great pot of soup just waiting to happen. All great soups start with great stock.


Anyone can make great stock. Stock is always made with bones. Since most people pick the carcass clean, that's exactly what you are left with after Thanksgiving. I often throw in the neck too but this year I used them to make a quick stock Thanksgiving day for the gravy.


The method is simple and the same for any white stock where the bones are not roasted. Put the bones in a large soup pot. Cut the main carcass into pieces so it fits nicely. Peel an onion and cut into eighths. Peel a couple of carrots and cut into chunks. Clean two stalks of celery and cut into chunks. They all go in the pot. If you have drippings from the turkey pan, these can go in too. A cleaned leek is also nice if you have one. The typical aromatics are a smashed clove of garlic, 6 whole peppercorns, a bay leaf, a few sprigs of fresh parsley and a sprig of fresh thyme (or 1/4 teaspoon of dried). If you are neat, you can wrap all of these in cheesecloth for a nice bouquet garni. I usually toss all of them in the pot since they will get strained out after cooking.


Cover everything in the pot with cold water. Set on the stove on medium. As the water comes up to a simmer, you want to spoon off the foam that floats to the surface. This will assure a clearer stock. Another tip for getting a clearer stock is don't ever let it get hotter than a simmer. After the water gets to a simmer, turn the heat down to low and let it simmer for at least 2 hours. You can let it go 6 hours if you want.


Take 2 pieces of cheesecloth big enough to cover a large strainer. Wet them, wring them out and place in the strainer. Put the strainer over another large pot or bowl and pour in your finished stock. If you are going to make soup right away, you are ready to go.


If you aren't going to use the stock right away, it's important that you cool it quickly. Put it in the fridge, or your garage if it is cooler than 40 degrees F. I have a couple of small energy drink bottles that I fill with water and freeze. I put them in the stock to cool it down even faster.


You can freeze turkey stock for at least 3 months. It's always nice to have a cache of turkey stock from Thanksgiving hiding in the freezer for a lovely pot of turkey soup in February.