turkey carcass soup

Take a turkey carcass, preferably with some meat on it still, and definitely skin and fat, and throw it in a big pot or a crockpot. Cover with (filtered) water and simmer for hours. Season if you like, but I just throw in some bay leaves and dried minced onions.

Turn it off and let it cool a bit, then strain it. Pick the meat off the bones and chop it. Toss the bones, skin, fat, etc. If you want to refrigerate the stock overnight, I've heard you can scrape the fat off the surface then - but truth be told, that hasn't been my experience (this time, it was all gelatinous with a thin white surface that couldn't be separated really).

Put the crockpot back on.

Chop and saute a bit:
*the trinity (onion, celery, pepper)
*carrots
*garlic

Add to the crockpot with the chopped turkey meat.

Add spices (I used all dry and they were fine):
*bay leaves
*basil
*thyme
*marjoram
*rosemary
*black pepper
*oregano
*(salt - though I don't add)

Simmer for a few hours. Add frozen vegetables such as peas and beans for the last hour.

In a separate pan, boil water and cook noodles (I like egg noodles). Add a little olive oil after draining. I like to cook the noodles separate so that they don't turn to mush and soak up all the liquid when stored and reheated.

*****
This turned out really, really, REALLY good - perfect for the cold weather, and for my health.

I used only about half the carcass I came home with and froze the other half. I'm looking forward for more turkey soup later - and I think next time I'll make dumplings instead of using noodles.