Terrific Turkey Chowder

HurricaneElaine

I've finished making my famous turkey chowder from the remains of our Thanksgiving turkey - we bought a 12 pounder and must have had four pounds left. Here's the recipe.

Two strips of bacon, rendered in the bottom of a large soup pot. Reserve for garnish. Saute 1/2 cup each of finely chopped white onion, carrot and celery in the remaining fat (probably two teaspoons) until slightly soft. Sprinkle with a tablespoon of flour and stir to coat vegetables. Add a 24 ounce carton of chicken stock and 1 and 1/2 cups of chopped raw potato (Idaho or Maine, need the firm type). Add a leg bone if you have it for flavor. A teaspoon of sea salt, 1/2 teaspoon of white pepper, break a bay leaf in half, and rub 1/2 teaspoon of thyme between your fingers and add to the broth. Simmer for an hour. Chop/shred 1 1/2 cups of turkey (I use both white and dark meat) and stir in, simmer another 20 minutes. Remove leg bone.

I let it sit overnight and skim any extra fat off the top the next day. When heating up for dinner, keep flame low and add low- or non-fat half-and-half. Stir and gently simmer until temperature is to your liking. Just remember to pull out the bay leaf! Enjoy!

sgv0918

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HurricaneElaine

Thanks, SGV!

lovedogslovecats

That sounds delicious! Thanks for posting.

meshamoo

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HurricaneElaine

Just finished a bowl of this for supper. Since I posted this recipe from memory (had it on paper but that's LONG gone) - here are a few tweaks - 2 teaspoons of sea salt (instead of one) - half a teaspoon of freshly cracked black pepper (I know, I know, you're not supposed to put black pepper into chowder, but it needs it) - 2 bay leaves instead of one - a full teaspoon of thyme instead of 1/2 - plus a teaspoon of onion powder - there's so little fat, you don't need to wait until the next day to skim it - add the half-and-half after the hour and twenty minutes cooking time, and simmer again for another half-hour or so until the potatoes give their thickening magic to the base. Also, I forgot in the initial post, garnish the bowls before serving with a few pieces of the reserved bacon.

HurricaneElaine

Now entered into the food database. A one-cup serving is 246 calories, 5 grams of fat, 93 milligrams of cholesterol, 247 milligrams of sodium, 7 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, 2 grams of sugar and 8 grams of protein.

Dang, this is hard work! <whew> :laugh: