Weight Watchers Info: 4 PointsPlus per serving (based on 2 cups of cooked wild rice, and 24 ounces of boneless skinless cooked dark meat turkey). Modify if you use more or less rice or turkey.
Ingredients
1 Meaty turkey carcass, including wings and other leftover meat, if you did too well when you carved the turkey (I used smoked turkey, the original used wild turkey, you could really use any turkey or probably 2 chicken carcasses)
2 Medium onions (1 quartered, 1 chopped)
5 Carrots (2 coarsely chopped, 3 sliced)
5 Celery stalks (2 coarsely chopped, 3 sliced)
5 Garlic cloves, smashed
6 Parsley sprigs
2 Bay leaves
2 Thyme sprigs (or 1 tsp dried thyme)
1 Tsp Peppercorns
1 Tsp Salt
1-2 Cups of cooked wild rice (I do ½ cup uncooked wild rice, which turns into about 1½ cups cooked)
Salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes, to taste
Instructions
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees
Hack carcass into useful sized chunks (good manly man work here…)
Roast carcass chunks on cooking sheet in oven for 30 minutes
Put roasted carcass chunks in large stockpot
Add quartered onion, coarsely chopped carrots and celery, garlic, parsley, bay leaves, thyme, peppercorns and salt to pot
Fill pot with water to cover all the meat and veggies--around 10 cups (you want about 8 usable cups of stock when you're done)
Turn pot on high until it boils, skimming off any “scum” that accumulates on top (I’ve not had this problem)
Reduce heat and simmer uncovered until meat begins falling off bones–about 3 hours
Pour stock through a large colander into another large pot–we use our cast iron porcelain pot here. Alternatively, you can pour the stock into a large bowl, and then pour it back into the same pot you used for the stock.
When the chunks in the colander have cooled, separate out the turkey parts and discard the rest
Pull off the meat and chop coarsely–discard bones and cartilage (optimally I like about 4-6 cups of meat for the soup)
Combine turkey meat (here you can add some leftover chopped turkey if you don’t think you got enough from the bones), sliced carrots and celery, and chopped onions with stock and return to boil
Simmer until vegetables are tender, about 45 minutes
Add cooked wild rice, stir, and serve! (we enjoy serving with crusty sourdough bread or rolls)
Season with additional salt, pepper, or red pepper flakes as needed, either before serving, or in your individual bowls.
NOTE: For a super simple shortcut version, take 8 cups of pre-made or store bought turkey or chicken stock, and 6 cups of chopped turkey or chicken, and just add the chopped onion, sliced carrots and celery, and simmer for the 45 minutes before adding the wild rice.
Recipe by The Taste Place at https://www.thetasteplace.com/smoked-turkey-and-wild-rice-soup/