Let's Make. . . Turkey Soup

There is a trade off when you deep fry a turkey. . .you lose the ability to make gravy from the drippings of a roasted turkey but what you gain is a gorgeous carcass with which to make a nice soup! By frying the turkey, all the rich gelatin and juices are sealed in the turkey and you end up with a rich, delicious turkey broth!

1 turkey carcass
2 carrots, peeled and roughly diced
1 yellow onion, peeled and quartered
4 ribs celery, roughly diced


Pick all the meat from the carcass and chop into uniform pieces. Combine the turkey carcass, carrots, onion and celery in a six quart stock pot, add water to cover and simmer for a minimum of two hours but no longer than four hours.

Strain. Skim the fat off the top of the stock. Bring the stock to a very low simmer.



2 roma tomatoes
2 oven-roasted roma tomatoes*
3 cloves peeled garlic
1/2 bunch cilantro, stems trimmed
1 jalapeno pepper (or to taste)
pinch of cumin
salt & pepper to taste
2 carrots, peeled and finely diced
4 oz. fine egg noodles (fideo)
olive oil

Combine the both kinds of tomatoes, garlic, cilantro, jalapeno, cumin, salt & pepper in a blender or use a stick blender to puree the salsa.

Add a little turkey stock to make a thick, well blended puree.


Heat about a tablespoon of olive oil in a small sauce pan until very hot, add the salsa, careful to avoid splatters.

Cook the salsa on high, until it reduces by two-thirds and a spoon run through it leaves a trail. Add the salsa to the turkey stock. Add the diced carrots.

In a large saute pan, heat about 2 tablespoons of olive oil until it is very hot. Add the noodles.

Gently saute the noodles until they are evenly toasted - taking care not to break up the noodles.

Carefully add the noodles to the turkey stock - the stock will bubble up like sizzling rice soup so add them slowly. Simmer the soup until the noodles are tender but not mushy, about ten minutes. Add turkey meat, taste and adjust salt and pepper.

Ladle into bowls and garnish with fresh chopped cilantro and cubes of ripe avocado.

*in the dead of winter when tomatoes have little flavor, I halve roma tomatoes, season them with salt and pepper, drizzle them with olive oil and slow roast them in a 300F oven until they are almost dry. These are great to have on hand to punch up salsas or pasta sauces.