1.28.2010

Smoked Turkey Soup

It seems like a lot of the stuff I make is rather time consuming. This one takes a few hours, but very little work is required-- most of the time is just waiting. My favorite part of this soup is that it tastes really really good but is really really healthy. Sometimes I see smoked turkey legs at grocery stores, sometimes I don't; usually if I'm at a store that's got them in stock I'll pick up one or two to freeze for future use. They taste remarkably like smokey ham.

Smoked Turkey Soup
To make broth:
1 smoked turkey leg
1 carrot, cut in quarters
1 stick celery, cut in quarters
1 onion, quartered
2 bay leaves
10 black peppercorns

Put all in big soup pot and cover with water. I left the end knob of the leg uncovered by water, but the rest was submerged. Bring to boil then cover and simmer for about an hour and a half. Remove and set aside turkey leg, and remove and discard veggies and spices. I used my hand strainer to remove veggies and spices, you also could use a colander and strain the broth into a different big bowl or pot. Cover and put broth outside to cool for a couple of hours. Once leg is cool, remove meat from bone, cut into bite-sized pieces, and put in fridge. Bring broth inside and skim the fat off the top.

To make soup:
1 c. rinsed lentils
3-4 carrots, chopped
2-3 celery stalks, chopped
1 onion, chopped
10-12 stems of kale, leaves only (not stem or spine), well-rinsed and cut into bite-sized pieces
S and P

Bring broth to boil, then add lentils and a pinch or two of salt and some pepper, reduce to simmer and cover. If the lentils are green or split black, cook about 12 minutes. If the lentils are red/orange or split black without skins, cook about 7 minutes. While broth is coming to boil, saute carrot, celery, and onion in olive oil in a skillet on medium-- this will take about 10 minutes. Remove veggies from heat when they are mostly tender. After the 12 or 7 minutes of lentil-simmering, add the sauteed veggies, kale, and the cut up turkey leg, continue to simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, 10-15 minutes. Test a lentil at 10 minutes... if it seems too firm, continue cooking and test again in a few minutes. Soup is ready when lentils are tender.
I used split black lentils, and as soon as I poured the lentils in the broth got all dark. I guess the black skins gave me dark soup. Still tastes great, though!

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