Day-After-Thanksgiving Turkey Soup

Ingredients

• 1 roasted turkey carcass, broken into pieces
• 5 quarts cold water
• 2 onions, quartered, plus 1 onion diced
• 4 celery ribs, halved, plus 3 ribs sliced
• 4 carrots, halved, plus 3 carrots sliced
• 8 parsley stems
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
• 3 bay leaves
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup wild rice blend
• 3 cups shredded leftover turkey meat
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried sage
• 1/2 cup heavy cream, optional
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• Salt and black pepper to taste

Before you cook

• Break the turkey carcass into pieces that will fit in your stockpot and pull off any big pockets of stuffing.
• Quarter two onions and halve four celery ribs and four carrots for the stock.
• Dice the remaining onion and slice the remaining celery and carrots for the soup.

Steps

1. Put the carcass pieces in a stockpot and cover them with the cold water.
2. Bring the pot slowly up to a bare simmer over medium heat.
3. Skim the foam off the surface and discard it.
4. Add the quartered onions, halved celery and carrots, parsley stems, thyme, peppercorns and bay leaves.
5. Simmer the stock uncovered for 2 hours, never letting it boil hard.
6. Strain the stock through a fine sieve into a clean pot and press the solids gently before discarding them.
7. Skim the fat off the surface with a wide spoon or a ladle.
8. Melt the butter in a second pot over medium heat and cook the diced onion, sliced celery and sliced carrots for 8 minutes.
9. Pour about 10 cups of the strained stock over the vegetables.
10. Add the wild rice blend and the sage and bring the soup to a simmer.
11. Cook for 40 minutes, until the wild rice grains split open and are chewy-tender.
12. Stir in the shredded turkey meat and heat it through for 5 minutes.
13. Add the cream if you want a richer soup, then season with salt and pepper.
14. Stir in the parsley and serve.