After Thanksgiving

I don't know about you, but I go through streaks of cooking every night, followed by eating out every night. During the holidays I really get on a roll, and momentum carries me through several days. Although this year, with a dozen people coming over, some of them never having met each before, the planning and cooking for the one big meal was all I could concentrate on. I wasn't thinking about what we would eat the night before, the morning of or the morning after, and we had guests staying in our house! The other element added was the Packer/Detroit game on T-Day. We did think of making Chex mix at least. And the cooler was full of beer, wine and other beverages.

So after the big meal when the dishes were cleared and the mountain of cleaning done in the kitchen (just about six dishwasher loads) I still felt the need/urge to cook. I can't just throw away that carcass, now can I? Of course, simple turkey broth is the first thing. Just throw everything you can into that pot, fill it with water and boil away. Besides the carcass, mine included the neck and organs, fresh sage/rosemary/thyme (hello Garfunkel?), carrots, celery, onion, garlic, salt and pepper. I think I ended up with at least a gallon of stock. I put some of it into ice cube trays so I could use it later, and even gave some of that away, but still had quite a bit left. So luckily I found this great wild rice/turkey soup recipe that uses 10 cups of stock! I found it on Epicurious, but it's originally from Bon Appetite: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Turkey-Chowder-with-Wild-Rice-Crimini-and-Pancetta-240373

Every good recipe starts with chopping carrots and celery doesn't it? Ah, but this one has Pancetta, a lovely Italian bacon that has a darker taste than American bacon and it's pretty salty.

Get it cut thin so it crisps up when you saute it.
I won't bore you with the details of the making...it's really basic, and looks really pretty. I didn't use the mushrooms due to my low potassium diet. Frankly I didn't think it needed it. There's a lot going on under that creamy facade.
Although it's not a really creamy soup...more brothy. I used whole milk and half and half instead of whipping cream, so you could make it creamier if you wanted.
I know, parsley garnish...what a bore. But the recipe actually called for it! Wow, I really liked this soup, and was thinking in the future I would actually make a turkey just so I could make it. Although I'm sure my delicious broth is what really made this soup fantastic. And the Pancetta.