Boxing Day turkey soup

I spent hours slaving in the kitchen yesterday, cooking a Christmas lunch for my family and friends. Half an hour before our guests arrived, my younger son piped in that he wanted some Christmas pasta (we got it in Lakeland, and he's been eating it daily for the last couple of weeks). No amount of persuasion that soon we were going to eat worked. So I cooked him a plate of pasta. It must be his Italian genes to blame.

By the time our guests arrived, I was knackered and irritable. My gravy was coddling and I was ready to chuck the pan in the garden, pan with gravy, apron and all. Thankfully, one of our friends came to the rescue and made a very good gravy. 

We had a veritable feast of salmon with blinis and roast gammon as a starter, followed by the turkey with all the trimmings - roast potatoes, parsnips with candied walnuts, carrots with fennel seeds, red cabbage, sprouts with pancetta and chestnuts, pigs in blankets, stuffing balls and cranberry sauce. I didn't bother with the bread sauce, I don't like it and don't see the point of it. You probably need to be born British to appreciate the "beauty" of it. I also warned my guests that we would be having an Italian-style dessert, and if they fancied a Christmas pudding, they'd have to bring their own. They brought a wonderful homemade tiramisu made with Marsala wine and homebaked gluten-free savoiardi biscuits. So, we ended up indulging in the excellent Pandoro and splendid tiramisu. By the end of the meal, I suspect we all felt like the proverbial turkey.

Though I gave our friends a "doggy bag" with leftovers, we still need to go through a big mount of food. This morning I opened the fridge and looked wistfully, pondering what should I do with the leftovers. Nobody fancied a Boxing day sandwich with leftovers. Turkey curry always reminds me of Bridget Jones' Mum's culinary expertise. Bubble and squeak? Too British. 

What about a slightly Oriental soup with the leftover turkey and vegetables? Yes, that sounds better.

So, soup it was.

Boxing Day turkey soup

Ingredients:

About 250g turkey meat, chopped or broken into smaller pieces

1 medium sized leek, sliced thinly

cooked carrot batons (about 1 full carrot in total)

cooked parsnip (about 1 full parsnip in total)

1 clove of garlic, finely chopped

1 vegetable stock cube, crumbled

2cm grated fresh ginger

a handful of cooked sprouts

1tbsp soy sauce

1tsp white wine vinegar

2 egg noodle nests, broken into smaller pieces

If you have any bones left, put them in a pan and cover with boiling water. Simmer for 15-20 minutes, then spoon the bones out and discard. Slice finely a medium leek and put in the pan with the broth. add the stock cube and finely chopped garlic. Add the sliced carrots and parsnips and grate the  fresh ginger in.
Slice the sprouts and chop or cut the turkey meat into small pieces. Chuck everything in, bring to boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Add a splash of vinegar. I suppose the rice vinegar would have been a more authentic Asian flavour, but I didn't have any, so I added just white wine vinegar. In the last five minutes of cooking break a couple of small egg noodle nests in.
Serve hot.

It is a lovely flavourful soup. It will also work well with the roast duck leftovers. If you have spring onions or fresh coriander, that would be a nice addition to the soup as well.

If you had a turkey yesterday for Christmas, what did you make with the leftovers today?