Grandma's Turkey and Parmesan Soup

This is not Grandma, nor am I making my Grandma's turkey soup recipe. That is my dad, enjoying the incredible weather we are having up here at the cabin today. I love this picture and made sure to capture his belt-buckle when I snapped it (Paul).

Right now I'm making soup from yesterday's leftovers. My friend Nicole passed this recipe on to me a couple years back and I'm thinking we need to make this our own family recipe. It's still simmering on the stove-top, I'll post a finished picture of it later, but I wanted to get this up right away in hopes that you might be sitting around wondering what to do with your bird's carcass. I hope this reaches you in time.

  

Grandma's Turkey and Parmesan Soup

INGREDIENTS

• Turkey carcass
• 3 - 5 Whole Carrots
• 3 - 4 Whole Celery Stalks
• Medium Yellow Onion, quartered
• 2 Bay Leaves
• 2 tsp Poultry Seasoning
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp white pepper
• 1 or 2 eggs & water (at room temp)
• 1 - 2 C Parmesan Cheese (powder, not shredded)
• Acini di Pepe Soup Noodles

 

DIRECTIONS

1. Place turkey carcass in a large pot with unchopped vegetables and seasonings. Add water, covering about 2-3 inches over carcass - cover and bring to a boil.
2. Once water comes to boil, turn down and simmer 2 - 4 hours. 
3. Strain. (If you wish, you may want to take some of the whole vegetables, chop them into 1/4" pieces and add them back in soup. The original recipe did not call for this, but I added it.)
4. Bring broth to a boil, add some leftover shredded turkey.  Taste broth and adjust seasonings to liking (add more salt, white pepper or poultry seasoning. [You can add 2 - 3 chicken bouillon cubes if needed]).
5. Add 1 - 2 C Acini de Pepe noodles (depending upon amount of broth) when at a boil. Cook about 7 - 9 minutes until tender.  Remove from heat.
6. Beat egg(s) in a bowl with a small amount of water (I usually use 2 as I end up with a lot of stock from a Thanksgiving bird).  Mix 1/2 - 1 C Parmesan cheese with eggs.  GRADUALLY add mixture to soup while stirring so it does not curdle. 
7. Taste and season as needed.

Serve hot with Parmesan sprinkled on top and a side of crusty bread.