Thanksgiving’s just a bit more than a week away. Enjoying the leftovers is going to be half the fun.

In my house, leftover turkey gets put to highly revered, traditional uses (sandwiches, of course, but also old-fashioned breakfast hash), while the stock I make from the turkey carcass outlasts the leftover turkey meat. I like to use that stock for this wonderful, very homey Leftover Thanksgiving Chickeny Turkey Soup with Buttermilk Dumplings. I can’t stress enough how “homemade” this soup tastes, in all the best senses of that word. The combination of chicken and turkey results in an eyebrow-raising depth of flavor. The light, fluffy, tender dumplings are quite sophisticated and elevate this delicious soup to something special. I proudly serve this soup to guests, and it never fails to please.

Ingredients for 8 servings:

FOR THE SOUP

1½ lbs chicken breasts
6 cups cool, tap water
3½ tsp coarse salt, divided
2 Tbs bacon fat
2 Tbs unsalted butter
1 med onion, diced
4 large carrots, peeled and sliced into half-moons
7 medium celery stalks, sliced
Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme, to taste
Freshly-ground black pepper, to taste (lots, but don’t go crazy)
½ cup AP flour
6 cups homemade, unsalted, defatted turkey stock
2 large roasted garlic cloves, or 1 clove large fresh garlic
½ cup heavy cream (optional)
Chicken bouillon, to taste (optional)

FOR THE DUMPLINGS

3 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda 
1½ tsp sea salt
¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper 
1½ cup + 2 Tbs AP flour 
Zest of 1 lemon
3 Tbs shredded Parmesan
¼ cup + 2 Tbs (packed) chopped flat-leaf parsley 
4½ Tbs cold, unsalted butter
¾ cup + 3 Tbs buttermilk

How To Do It:

1. To make the soup, first trim any obvious pieces of fat from the chicken, if there are any. Place the chicken in a large soup pot, cover with the water, add 1 teaspoon salt, and place over high heat (setting 6 of 9 on an ultra-high burner). As it nears the boil (about 7.5 minutes in), use a slotted spoon to remove any “suds” that might appear. Once it’s boiling, reduce heat to medium-low (setting 2), cover the pot, and let the chicken simmer until it reaches 165ºF, about 25 minutes. During this time, at 5-minute intervals, open the lid to skim off more of the suds, and check the chicken’s temp.
2. Remove the chicken to a plate. Pour the poaching liquid into a large mixing bowl. Wash out the pan.
3. Ladle the poaching liquid from the bowl into a medium-sized saucepan, being careful to leave any sediment in the bowl. Cover the pan and place it over lowest heat, to keep it warm.
4. Heat fat and butter in newly-washed-out soup pot over a medium flame (setting 4). Add veggies, herbs, and pepper, and sauté until softened, about 8 minutes.
5. Stir in flour and cook for 1 minute. Pour hot poaching liquid into the pot, and cook, stirring, 1 minute more. Add the turkey stock. Cover, bring to a boil, and reduce to a simmer. Cook until the veggies are tender, yet still just shy of what you’d prefer in the final soup, about 3 minutes.
6. Mash the garlic with the reserved salt and add it to the pot. Off heat.
7. Dice the chicken and add it to the pot. (Add cream.) Heat through as you correct seasoning. If you feel it needs salt, consider adding bouillon instead. At this point, the soup can be held for a while (or refrigerated for up to 3 days, and reheated).
8. To make the dumplings, whisk powder, soda, salt, pepper, and flour. Stir in zest, Parmesan, and parsley. Use a pastry cutter to blend in the butter. Fold in buttermilk just until the mixture comes together and thickens. Drop the dough by the heaping tablespoons into barely simmering soup. Cover and cook 10 minutes. Off heat; let rest uncovered for at least five minutes before serving.

Notes:

1. You could use leftover Thanksgiving turkey for this soup, of course – in which case, you would skip the poaching altogether.
2. You don’t have to poach the chicken. Roasted or pan-fried breasts would be delicious in this soup. So would dark meat.
3. Naturally, you could use chicken stock for this soup.
4. I like about a teaspoon of dried parsley, and about a half-teaspoon of the other herbs. The sage, if I happen to have some left from my last trip to Scarborough Fair, I’ll use – but not always.
5. And of course, it’s easy to imagine lots of veggie additions (or substitutions), such as green peas, leeks, potatoes, corn, Brussels sprouts, and/or mushrooms.
6. There are several ways to mash garlic. I use the back side of a fork, repeatedly pressing it down and raking it across the garlic, so that the garlic is forced through the tines over and over again. But go ahead, get out that fancy press. I’ll wait.
7. If you do decide to make the soup ahead, undercook the veggies.
8. Don’t be tempted to skip the zest. You may question its role in these dumplings and in the dish in general. It’s magical. Indeed, these are incredibly good dumplings. I try not to open the lid at all while the dumplings are cooking. However, it’s imporant that you simmer, rather than boil, the soup while they’re cooking. So use a quick, shallow peek if you must.
9. This soup is absolutely delicious leftover. The texture isn’t as elegant as it was at first, but the flavor and satisfaction quotient are through the roof.
10. Although I love the cream in this soup, sometimes it’s unnecessary. It depends on how thick the broth turns out, and how deep the flavors seem.

Leftover Thanksgiving Chickeny Turkey Soup with Buttermilk Dumplings

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