Turkey Noodle Soup With Fennel

Photo: The Duo Dishes

Ingredients

Soup

medium Turkey meat, diced into chunks

3 stalks celery, including leaves, diced

3 carrots, diced

1 large yellow onion, diced

1/4 cup green onion, including white ends, chopped

6 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup fennel bulb, chopped

2 teaspoons fresh thyme, chopped

1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped

4 bay leaves

8 ounces egg noodles

2 teaspoons salt

1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper

1 1/4 teaspoons creole seasoning

2 teaspoons ground sage

2 teaspoons poultry seasoning

Homemade turkey broth (recipe below) or chicken/veggie broth

2 cups water

Olive oil

Unsalted butter

Broth

Turkey carcass, cut up into large pieces

1/2 yellow onion, including ends and peels, cut into large chunks

2 celery stalks, including ends and leaves, cut into large chunks

2 carrot stalks, including ends, cut into large chunks

2 whole stalks green onion, including ends

4 bay leaves

Handful whole fennel leaves, including stems

Handful whole parsley

Stems, ends, peels, and remains from the veggies and herbs from soup ingredients

1 teaspoon whole peppercorns

cup About 4-6 of water

Preparation

Starting with the broth, cut up turkey carcass into large pieces. In a large pot, add half amount of water, then put in 2 or 3 pieces of the turkey. Top with peppercorns, bay leaves, all the veggie parts, stems, leaves and chunks. Then add remaining pieces of turkey bones and meat. Pour enough water to cover contents in pot, filling up all the way to the top.

Bring pot to a slow boil over medium-low heat. Reduce to low, loosely cover and let simmer for at least 90 minutes to 2 hours. Skim foam from top if necessary.

Remove from heat. Using tongs, remove meat and set aside. Remove large veggie chunks and discard. Drain the rest of the pot using a wire colander or strainer, reserving the broth in a large bowl or tupperware.

Cover bowl and refrigerate until ready to make soup. Best to let sit overnight, if possible.

Meanwhile, when meat is cool enough to handle with hands, remove all meat from the bones. Discard the bones and reserve meat for the soup. Cut into medium size chunks, about 1 ½ inch pieces. Set aside until ready to make soup.

To make soup, heat oil and butter in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add all the veggies—onions, garlic, celery, carrots, and fennel. Cook for 6-8 minutes, mixing often.

Stir in the herbs followed by the remaining spices and seasonings.

Add the reserved chopped meat and cook until veggies are tender, letting the flavors meld together, approximately 4-6 minutes.

Pour in broth and water and bring to a light bowl. Reduce heat to low and cook uncovered for another 20 minutes.

Now stir in noodles and cook another 6-8 minutes, or until noodles are slightly al dente.

Remove from heat and serve with bread of your choice. (Maybe lightly toasted baguette drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar? Yes!)

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About

Don’t let the long recipe below detour you from creating this dish in your own kitchen. For one, you can put whatever it is you want in it! There was some leftover fennel in the fridge, so it went in the pot. Don’t like it? Leave it out! Dress it up however you like. The soup breaks down into 4 easy steps: cut up the veggies and carcass, make the homemade broth, add the fixings, eat and enjoy. And, just because the holidays have passed, this is still a wonderful time of the year to make soup. Try it with chicken or another type of fowl. There were soup leftovers for a week, and it only got better and better each day as the flavors melded together. Plus, who says you can only eat a turkey during the holidays?