Turkey Soup with Mushrooms (an Answer to the Leftover Turkey Dilemma)

 Whether you're looking to use up your Thanksgiving (or other holiday) turkey, or just looking for another use for some turkey legs you have stashed in the freezer, this soup recipe will lead to easy and tasty results.

From L-R: Sweet onion, thyme, celery, garlic, shallot, carrots, leeks,
mushrooms, turkey, chicken stock, more mushrooms

First, the ingredients:

• ½ oz mixed dried mushrooms

• 2 tbs olive oil

• 3 leeks (including tender green parts, coarsely chopped)

• ½ lbs fresh white button mushrooms (coarsely chopped)

• ¼ lb fresh shiitake mushrooms (stemmed and coarsely chopped)

• 2 carrots (peeled and coarsely chopped)

• ½ c. pearl barley

• 3 large garlic cloves (minced)

• 2 turkey thighs, about 1.5 lbs

• 2 tsp soy sauce

• 8 c. chicken or beef stock or prepared broth

• 3 tbs finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

• Salt and freshly ground pepper (to taste)

Clockwise from bottom left: turkey, button mushrooms, chicken stock,
pearl barley, shiitake and other mushrooms.

Now you may notice from the picture that it doesn't match the ingredients list.  

You would be right! You can substitute vegetables to an extent, and that is what I did when making this soup.  

I wanted to use all of the leftover turkey from Thanksgiving; bones, skin and all (you remove the bones and skin later).

Coarsely chop carrots and celery, clean and slice mushrooms,
mince garlic, wrap thyme in twine and add after chicken stock.

To balance that out, I added more vegetables, like the celery, onion, and shallot. I had no dried mushrooms, so I substituted with more fresh mushrooms.

I had a bunch of thyme left over from Thanksgiving as well, so I chucked that in the soup pot too.

If you strictly go by the listed ingredients and use the dried mushrooms, first do the following: 

• Soak the dried mushrooms in 2c boiling water for 30 min

• Drain mushrooms, reserving 1c liquid

• Strain liquid in fine-mesh sieve or cheesecloth or coffee filter to remove any debris

• Squeeze the mushrooms dry with a clean kitchen towel or paper towels.

• Cut into ¼ in dice. Reserve.

Chopped leeks, onions, carrots and celery

In a large soup pot over medium-high heat, warm the oil. 

Add the leeks and carrots (and onion and celery, if you want) and sauté until softened, 5-7 min.

 Stir in the fresh mushrooms, barley and garlic. Saute for 1 min longer. 

 Add the thyme wrapped with butchers twine at this point if you want.

After adding stock, simmer for 1.5 hours or until the barley is tender.

Add the turkey and stock, reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer until the barley is tender but not mushy – about 1.5 hours.

Remove the turkey thighs from the pot. Discard the skin and cut the meat from the bones.  

Shred the meat into bite-sized pieces and return to the pot.  The meat will hopefully shred easily between two forks.  Add the reserved mushrooms and soaking liquid.

Stir in the soy sauce and chopped parsley and let simmer for 5 min longer. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Remove thyme at this point.

This tastes great with freshly baked bread or freshly toasted croutons.  Enjoy!

The finished soup, with freshly baked ciabatta as an accompaniment.