Tale of a Turkey

Ok, there is nothing, I repeat, nothing like homemade turkey broth! I am not much of a cook but the soup I made this evening with left over turkey and defatted turkey broth was fabulous! I think what made it so good was the way we cooked the turkey in the first place. For our wedding, we received a very large roaster. It's a funny looking thing with a little rack in the bottom and nubbies on the inside of the lid. But, this roaster rocks! It cooks and browns a turkey in 1/2 the time. You put the turkey on the rack and add an inch or so of water. This amazing pan cooks the most tender, moist turkey while browning at the same time (it's the nubbies in the lid that do this). And, the broth you get when you pull the turkey out is really, really tasty.

To make the soup, I just put the broth in the frig and scraped the fat off when it was cold. Then I put it in a pan with just a little water. Next I added onion and carrots for about 5 minutes. Sweet potatoes went in next for about 5 minutes and finally the turkey and green pepper for the last 5 minutes. Add just a little poultry seasoning (thanks to my brother!), salt and pepper and voila!

Why don't we cook turkey more often? Because it takes too long! With this roaster (I know I am sounding like a TV commercial!) the turkey cooks perfectly and quickly. My husband bought this bird for $.39 a pound right after Christmas and put it in the freezer. I cooked it on a Friday while I was working around the house. The first night we had moist, tender turkey for dinner. The second day we all had turkey sandwiches. The third night, while the Super Bowl was on, we had turkey quesadillas with carmalized onions and two kinds of cheese! Then tonight we had amazing turkey soup. Yah, I know, time to put the leftovers in the freezer. But I'm going to slice it up and put it in cute little packages just like when you buy it for $5.99 a pound in the deli!