One Bird, Three Ways: Part 2

So last night, after we were done with or delicious turkey dinner, Kirk put the carcass directly into our stock pot with bunches of dried herbs (sage, savory, thyme, and rosemary), a leek, and a couple ribs of celery, then covered it all with water and let it simmer for the rest of the evening.

This, of course, is how you make turkey stock. That's really all there is to it (well, you also have to strain it into a container once it cools). If you need more details, you can read about it here.

The turkey stock was ready to go as the base for tonight's dinner, the second dish from the whole turkey we made on Sunday:

This is sopa de lima, which is a traditional turkey soup from Mexico. The literal translation from the Spanish is "lime soup," and indeed, that is its secret, awesome ingredient. This was what I had for dinner our first night in Mexico (where we enjoyed our fifteenth anniversary trip last April), and it was delicious. I've been wanting to recreate it ever since, and this week we finally got our chance. 

(By the way, if you are ever in Mérida, you should definitely eat at Chaya Maya!)

Traditionally, this soup has turkey, tomatoes, onion, sweet chiles, cilantro, tortilla, and lime. Since it's the dead of winter, we are completely out of peppers and cilantro. Kirk went with the vegetables on hand (which is what soup is all about, anyway). Here's our version:

Wintertime Sopa de Lima

4 corn tortillas, halved and cut into 1/2 inch strips

1 1/2 cups plus 2 Tbs. canola oil

1 leek

1 turnip

1 rib celery

2 quarts turkey stock

6 oz. turkey, shredded (we used dark meat)

12 sundried tomatoes, quartered

2 limes, plus thin lime slices for garnish

1. First, prepare the tortilla strips by frying in a small pot of hot canola oil, until crisp and golden brown. Remove to a paper towel-lined plate to dry and cool.

2. Chop the leek, turnip, and celery into bite sized pieces and sauté in 2 Tbs. oil in a large stock pot. As veggies wilt, add the juice of 1/2 a lime, and stir in the remaining peel for flavor.

3. When veggies are cooked (about 10-15 minutes on medium heat), remove the piece of lime. Add the turkey stock, shredded turkey, and sun dried tomatoes to the pot, and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Stir in the juice of the remaining 1 1/2 limes.

4. To serve, scoop soup into bowls and garnish with a lime slice and fried tortilla strips.

This is so, so delicious. The lime flavor is unexpectedly good with the turkey, and the flavors are really good on their own — this is one soup that doesn't really need much in the way of salt and pepper to season it. This is because the homemade turkey stock is already really flavorful, and the addition of dark meat plus sun dried tomatoes gives it all the salty/savory flavor you need. And the brightness of the lime add so much, you won't miss the salt.

So it's healthy and delicious, and easy. And a great use of our bird, which has now supplied a family of four with four meals: two dinners and two lunches. I'll most definitely be eating this for lunch tomorrow, since this made mass quantities of soup. 

Which is exactly as it should be on a cold winter night.