Turkey and Wild Rice Soup

After Thanksgiving, once our turkey is picked to the bone and we've tossed its frame into the pot for broth, we make Turkey and Wild Rice Soup.  Fragrant, herbaceous thyme blends perfumes the house as it simmers in a savory, golden-rich turkey broth dotted by carrots, celery and onions. Like most good soups, it's not a complicated recipe; rather, it's simple and in its simplicity is an amazing, rich and heady flavor.

How to Make Turkey and Wild Rice Soup

To make turkey and wild rice soup, you'll begin first by picking your roasted turkey clean, and chopping the meat into bite-sized pieces.  Once that turkey frame is picked clean, you'll need to simmer it in water and wine to make the broth that forms the foundation of this soup.  You'll also want to precook the wild rice which keeps it nice and fluffy, and prevents it from absorbing all your broth and making what should be a light soup into a thickened porridge.

Once you have your ingredients at the ready, you'll start by sweating the onions, carrots, and celery together with olive oil and salt.  Unlike sautéing, in which the vegetables are cooked hotter and allowed to brown, sweating gives these vegetables a softer, sweeter flavor and encourages them to release their liquid and steam.  Once the onions are translucent, but the carrots still firm, you'll add the broth, roasted turkey meat and cooked wild rice along with several sprigs of thyme.  This way, you need only wait until the carrots are cooked through to serve the soup, as the wild rice and turkey have already completed their turn cooking and need only to warm a bit in the hot broth.  The fragrant tiny thyme leaves will fall away from their tough stems as the soup simmers, and you need only pluck out the stems just before you serve the soup.