Turkey & Wild Rice Soup

How we make it.

2 tablespoons butter
2 onions, diced
4 celery stalks, diced
4 whole carrots, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup Port
6 cups chicken stock
4 cups roasted turkey, chopped finely
1 bunch fresh sage
1/2 cup wild rice
Drippings from roasting your turkey, fat scraped off the top and discarded

Heat a large dutch oven soup pot over medium high heat and add butter until melted. Add onions, garlic, celery, carrots, salt and pepper, stirring to combine. Cook for 5-7 minutes until softened. Add Port and cook for 2 minutes more. Add the drippings you’ve saved from roasting your turkey. You’ll want to skim the extra fat off the top first and just keep the brown liquid to put in the soup. Add chicken stock and turkey. Tie sage in a bundle with kitchen twine if you've got it, dental floss if you don't. Be resourceful! Just tie it up so you can fish it out easier because it's a flavoring, not something you want to eat in the soup. Add sage bundle to the pot. Bring the soup to a boil if it's not already there. Once boiling, lower heat to medium low and pour in uncooked wild rice. Let simmer uncovered for 20 minutes and serve hot.

Why we make it.

My mother does not enjoy cooking. She's more of a gardening type. But any time she ever hosts a holiday turkey dinner, you can bet your bottom she'll have turkey soup simmering on her stove the week after. The drippings are the secret. Even a lassie who doesn't like to cook can make the best soup you've ever had with some turkey drippings. I'm not hosting Thanksgiving this year, but you know I made that Anxiety Turkey for those legs. I also made it for this soup, because you can't make this soup without it. Richly brothy and burnished brown from a dousing of Port, this soup is packed with chopped vegetables and tender turkey. Salty in all the right ways and slightly thickened with wild rice. You'll roast a turkey just to make it.