Here is one of those recipes that just came about under the right circumstances. It was cold outside with a fierce wind making us want to snuggle in even more. We were all exhausted from the trials of the past week. The pantry was a bit bare, and no one felt like venturing out. I reached into the freezer and pulled out some homemade turkey stock and a bit of frozen cooked turkey.
While a clear turkey noodle or turkey rice soup would have been nice, I wanted to make something a bit richer to warm us up and feed our bellies a bit more. I served the soup with some homemade bread. You can also pair it with a fresh salad.
Homemade turkey stock can be easily made by boiling a whole turkey carcass with onions, carrots and celery for five hours, reducing the liquid until you have a nice rich base.
INGREDIENTS:
1 gallon bag of homemade turkey stock
1 can evaporated milk
1-1/2 sticks butter
2 large carrots diced
1 med onion diced
3/4 cup flour
1/2 chicken bullion cube
1-1/2 tsp salt
pepper to taste
1 cup cooked or uncooked brown rice
DIRECTIONS:
Warm the homemade turkey stock if needed. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, saute the onions, carrots and celery in butter until tender. Reduce the heat.
Stir in the flour into the vegetables until blended.
Add the vegetable mixture to the turkey stock and bring it to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until the soup thickens. Reduce the heat.
Add the evaporated milk, rice, salt, pepper, bouillon and turkey. If using uncooked rice, add it now.
Cover and simmer the soup for about 40 minutes or until the rice is tender. If using cooked rice, first simmer for 30 minutes and then add the cooked rice to warm for five minutes before serving.