Savory Sundays #3: Late Summer Turkey Soup

My favorite way of learning a technique or a type of dish is repetition.  My first winter in Seattle, I wanted soup constantly; the weather just screamed “Soup Day!” and who was I to say no?  I lived with five guys at the time and though many things in that house left much to be desired, I will say that they all played nice while I decided to perfect my soup making.  They got a little crabby after almost a month on a mostly liquid diet (for which I can’t really blame them), but I did get really good at making soup.  I love being able to whip up a soup out of just about anything I happen to have on hand and know that it’s going to come out tasty.  This soup was no exception.  In fact, this is one of the best soups I've ever made.

I started with a couple of small onions from the garden.  I diced them up small and put them in the pot with about four tablespoons of butter. 

Rummaging around in the fridge, I found some wonderful German fingerling potatoes from the farmers market, and some carrots that needed to be used up.  I chopped them up in about half-inch sized pieces. When the onions had turned translucent in the pot, I threw the potatoes and carrots in with them.

When the carrots got bright, I stirred in about a quarter of a cup of while whole wheat flour, mixing until the vegetables were evenly coated with butter and flour.

Letting that sautée for a minute, I prepared six cups of stock and added it to the vegetables slowing, making sure the flour mixed in thoroughly as I went to avoid lumps.

To this, I added two whole sprigs each of rosemary and thyme (sticks and all), and about three-quarter teaspoons each of celery seed, garlic powder and onion powder, as well as a sprinkle of garlic salt and some fresh ground five pepper blend, a couple of dried red chilies, a couple of cloves of garlic and a couple of bay leaves.  I also had some leftover turkey breast in the freezer from one that I roasted last month, so I tossed that into the pot too.  

The turkey was still frozen when I put it in the pot, but after about 25 minutes, it was thawed, so I pulled it out, shredded it and threw it back into the pot.  At this time, I also pulled out my now bare herb stems and bay leaves.  The soup was basically done, so I re-seasoned. 

Re-seasoning is, to my mind, one of the most important steps in building an excellent soup.  It creates a soup with layers of flavors and adds nice color to the soup (green floaties in amongst the orange and white).  So at this time, I added another sprig each of rosemary and thyme (without the sticks this time), another grind of pepper, and some fresh, whole leaf oregano.  And, for good measure and a little creaminess (and because I had some), at the very end, I added ½ cup of buttermilk.

This is an excellent, full-bodied, flavorful soup, excellent for those late summer/early fall days that call for a little home cooking.  Goes excellently with next week's Sunday savory, Zucchini Cheddar Bread.