Welcome to What's Cooking, our version of a good old fashioned recipe exchange! Share your recipes with us to be featured! Our team created this series as a way to exchange recipes between club members and friends around the country—sort of like setting the table together, even with miles between us. This recipe is shared by Martha, whose father-in-law makes this soup every year after Thanksgiving with leftover turkey!
TURKEY SOUP WITH LIME AND CHILE
Serves: 4-6
"We spend Thanksgiving in Palm Springs with my father-in-law, who, quite frankly, didn't even know how to boil an egg 20 years ago (his words, not mine!). Now he makes a pitch-perfect, elaborate Thanksgiving meal without even breaking a sweat. While we're bobbing in the pool after the meal like a bunch of stuffed hippos, he starts an overnight turkey stock that becomes the anchor for this delicious day-after soup. Impressive. Life goals! I looove this soup. If you're like me and miss spicy during the main T-day meal, this is the cure! 🌶️ I'd pair this with a bottle of Solo Act for a really refreshing, zingy post-Turkey day wake up." –Martha
INGREDIENTS
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 cup diced onion
• 1 cup diced celery
• 1 cup diced carrot
• ½ teaspoon cumin seed
• ½ teaspoon coriander seed
• ½ teaspoon black peppercorns
• 6 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• 1 cinnamon stick, 2 inches long
• Cayenne
• 2 teaspoons salt, or to taste
• 8 cups unsalted turkey or chicken broth
• Vegetable oil for frying (about 1 cup)
• 4 corn tortillas, at least a day old, cut in ½-inch strips
• 4 to 6 cups cooked turkey meat, shredded
• 1 or 2 firm-ripe avocados
• 6 scallions, chopped
• 2 jalapeños, thinly sliced
• 1 small bunch cilantro, leaves and tender stems, roughly chopped
• Lime wedges
INSTRUCTIONS
Heat vegetable oil in a heavy-bottomed soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion, celery and carrot and let soften, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes.
Toast the cumin, coriander and peppercorns in a small dry skillet over medium-high heat until fragrant, about 1 minute, then grind in a spice mill or mortar. Add the ground spices to the pot, along with the garlic, cinnamon, a pinch of cayenne and salt.
Add the broth and bring to a boil, then reduce to a brisk simmer. Cook for 15 minutes, then taste for salt and adjust. Keep hot, covered, over very low heat.
Pour vegetable oil to a depth of ½ inch into a wide skillet over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot and looks wavy, add the tortilla strips and fry until barely colored, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove with tongs and drain on paper towels. Sprinkle lightly with salt. (The oil may be strained and saved for future frying.)
In a medium saucepan, heat the shredded turkey meat with a little of the hot soup. Divide the meat among 4 to 6 soup bowls and add a few slices of avocado to each. Ladle about 1 cup soup into each bowl, then garnish with tortilla strips, scallions, jalapeño slices, chopped cilantro and a generous squeeze of lime juice.
Enjoy with a glass (or two!) of Solo Act and a nap on the sofa.
This recipe was originally shared by NYT Cooking.
