Tuesday 29 December 2015

Chicken (or Turkey) Noodle Soup

Two days after Christmas, hubby stripped the turkey from the carcass. We had quite a big turkey, feeding 7 people, but with plenty of leftovers. Since then I have made a turkey curry, and there's more meat in the freezer. We thought we'd try using the bones to make stock. Since the crockpot wasn't being used for anything else, it made sense to use that. 

Ms Fussy Eater has had a cold all over Christmas, making her a bit miserable. Our Spanish au pair, Bea, used to make a chicken noodle soup whenever the kids were sick. So, I had an idea to use the turkey stock in that way. I had no recipe to guide me, but an idea of what I wanted to achieve. 

Preparation

We put as much of the turkey carcass into the crock pot as would fit, breaking it up as necessary. Then I poured over a couple of pints of water, turned it to HIGH, and left it for about 6 hours. It was soon bubbling away and producing a lovely healthy aroma in the kitchen. 

Making the Soup

Once the stock had cooled, we took out all the bones, leaving behind a golden stock with small pieces (sometimes chunks) of turkey meat. I heated this up, adding a tablespoon of paprika, two tablespoons of dried thyme and two tablespoons of garlic salt. When it came to the boil, I added some fine pasta noodles and allowed them to cook for 4 minutes. 

The Outcome

The result is a golden soup full of flavour. We ate it with slices of oat bread, and it tasted really good and healthy, especially after the excesses of Christmas. 

The Verdict

Mr Teenager was very enthusiastic and finished off a bowl very quickly. He said next time I should add some carrots. Unfortunately Ms Fussy Eater could not be persuaded to eat more than a few spoons. She said she was not hungry and couldn't taste it anyway. 

I will make this again when we next make the whole chicken in a crockpot recipe. The stock from that should make a delicious soup. And maybe I will add some carrots.