Smoky Turkey and Kale Soup

December 22, 2010

I thought it was about time I do a post that shows we eat something other than cookies, breads and waffles around here. Lately I feel like Buddy the Elf with the four main food groups – candy, candy canes, candy corns and syrup. Well, we do in fact eat veggies, fruit and meat.

My husband’s coworker from Brazil is traveling in the US and he brought his wife along with him for her first trip to the States. We spent time with them while in Brazil and they always showed us the best hospitality so we decided to return the favor and invite them to our new house for dinner. We recreated a Thanksgiving/holiday meal with turkey, cranberries, sweet potato casserole, stuffing, Brussels sprouts and holiday cookies.

Flash back to about 2 months ago…

I ordered our turkey from a friend here who has a small homestead. She had about a dozen turkeys – natural, free range on her property and organic. They were processed by an Amish community nearby.

Great, right? I knew the source of our turkey. I think I even met it. It might have been the one that pecked me on the butt the day I went to visit her alpaca. I’m not kidding!

The problem? The processed turkey weighed 34lbs! Yes, 34!

I could barely carry it to the car. We thawed it in a foam cooler in the guest bath tub, and then we got up at 6:00am on Sunday to battle it.

Honestly if you were keeping score, the turkey won.

We finally decided we had to do our best to cut it into pieces. We managed to get two breasts, the wings and the legs. I cut off other random pieces and made turkey stock out of them. The rest went to the grill.

Nothing like grilling in the winter.

We weren’t sure how tough the meat would be with such a large turkey so my husband had the idea to baste the breast in beer and butter in a pan on the grill. We added about a 7 lb turkey breast with 1 bottle of ale, 1 stick of unsalted butter and 1 sliced onion to a pan. It cooked on our ceramic grill for about 90 minutes at 300 to 350 degrees F.

It turned out great! It was juicy with great flavor. I highly recommend winter grilling!

As you can imagine, we’ll be eating turkey for a while. To lighten things up before our feasts this weekend, I decided to make some soup with the leftover turkey.

If you have smoked turkey, it adds such a complex flavor that makes the soup. I cut some breast meat and then I also placed a turkey leg in the soup to reheat for about 5 minutes, removed it and cut off some of the meat to add back to the soup.

You can do this with any leftover pieces, or you can simply add cooked and shredded or chopped turkey meat at the end.

Smoky Turkey and Kale Soup

2 tbsp olive oil
2 large carrots, peeled and sliced
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
10 button mushrooms sliced
½ tsp poultry seasoning
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp black pepper
¼ tsp crushed red pepper
7 cups turkey stock
5 cups kale, chopped
Cooked turkey leg or wing (if you have one leftover)
2 cups cooked turkey meat, shredded or cubed

Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot and add the carrot, onion and garlic. Cook over medium heat for about 3 minutes. Add the mushrooms, cook for 2 minutes more. Stir in the poultry seasoning, salt, black pepper and red pepper.

Add the turkey stock and stir in the kale. Increase the heat slightly and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and if using, place the turkey leg or wing in the soup. Partially cover and simmer for about 5 minutes.

Remove the turkey pieces, continue to simmer the soup. Allow the leg or wing to cool slightly to touch and cut off any meat. Add this meat and the additional cooked turkey meat to the soup. Continue to cook until the turkey is heated through and the vegetables are tender, about 3 to 5 more minutes.

Serves 6 to 8


This post has been submitted to the weekly Souper Sunday roundup at Kahakai Kitchen.

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  • Andrea (Off Her Cork) December 22, 2010 at 8:49 am

    I am so laughing right now! Dude a 34lb turkey is HUGE! Ha! 😀

    Also I assume your guests were not staying with you since you thawed Tom there in the tub? LOL

    Turkey and kale soup is my favorite, no lie. I sometimes will get smoked turkey legs and make this soup, it is so darn good!

  • Mindy December 22, 2010 at 9:14 am

    I can’t believe you grilled in this weather! This looks delicious, though!

  • carol December 22, 2010 at 10:26 am

    Yum..I love kale in soup and the smoked turkey aspect, perfection!!

  • My McDonald Meal December 22, 2010 at 10:41 am

    YUM! Beer, butter and grilling sounds perfect to me. We actually grill quiet a bit in the winter. Really only lightening will keep me away from my grill.

  • emily (a nutritionist eats) December 22, 2010 at 12:14 pm

    I’m not a turkey person, but I think I would like it a lot more if it was grilled!
    We have a mini grill on our balcony…but I guess we could do a turkey breast or leg…hmmm.

  • Fresh Local and Best December 22, 2010 at 9:08 pm

    Wow 34 pounds! That is a big turkey, you must have leftovers for weeks. The grilling must have added so much good flavor to this soup.

  • Marianne (frenchfriestoflaxseeds) December 23, 2010 at 12:48 am

    I don’t think a 34 lb bird would fit in our oven! I’d be breaking out the BBQ myself for that one.

    I would totally make that soup if we ever had enough leftover turkey to do so…and if my family would actually eat it. Sounds like a great “detox” soup after all the feasting 😉

  • Lori December 23, 2010 at 6:26 am

    Andrea – Dude, it was huge! I was going to add a note that everyone was probably glad they weren’t guests in our house bc they would have showered with a turkey. Ha!

    Mindy – I should probably correct that. Dan grilled. Ha! I rushed out for about 10 seconds to check the meat. 🙂

    carol – It was actually the first time I’ve added kale to soup and loved it!

    Melissa – This is the first winter we have our new grill so I have a feeling we’ll be doing more of it as well.

    Emily – Oh yeah, that would work and it adds a completely differet flavor.

    FLB – Yes, a ton! I’m trying to portion and freeze it all today.

    Marianne – Oh it wouldn’t fit in ours either. 🙂 Fighting it into pieces was the only way to go. Although having a butcher friend to help would have been nice. There is never any turkey leftover at our parents house either so that is why we bought our own this year. It was just a little too much. Ha!

  • Debinhawaii December 26, 2010 at 5:17 pm

    I bet the smoky turkey is just perfect with the kale–this looks delicious! Thanks for sending it to Souper Sundays. 😉

  • Faith December 27, 2010 at 10:43 am

    Wow, 34 lbs is one big turkey! Looks so moist and delicious, grilling was a great way to go. The soup looks fantastic too!

    Happy (almost) New Year!

  • OysterCulture December 28, 2010 at 4:22 pm

    Oh yum, I love smoking meats and this sounds amazing. As soon as I saw the green egg I knew it was going to be good! The soup recipe sounds just delicious.

    I love that you knew exactly where your turkey came from and it may have even taken the opportunity to introduce itself.

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