Leftover Turkey Stew

This was meant to be based on a recipe I found here. However, there were several hitches along the way. First of all, I actually had a lot more turkey left over than I had thought. Additionally, the turkey is smoked, making it taste more like ham, so the sage seemed like a bad idea. I was similarly unconvinced on the curry powder so I left that out as well.

As I realized this Aaron suggested rosemary as a replacement. It seemed like a good idea, but we were out. Even so this recipe is easy (if time intensive) and very tasty.

Ingredients:

5 cups	small chunks of leftover turkey
5 cups	cubed potatoes
2 cups	chopped carrots
1 cup	chopped celery
2 cups	chopped onion
4 cloves	minced garlic
3 cups	chicken broth
2 cups	vegetable broth
	salt and pepper
	olive oil

Procedure:
Fry the garlic and onions in olive oil until they begin to soften, then add the turkey, potatoes, carrots, celery, and broth. Hold at a boil, testing occasionally to see if the potatoes are done all the way through (if the pieces are as large as mine, this could take half an hour or more). Season to taste with salt and pepper.



I realized during cooking that I had cut my potatoes too large. Not only did they take forever to cook, but they were too big to fit on a spoon with anything else. After the cooking was just about done I hit the whole stew with a potato masher a few times. This broke up the largest potato pieces and also thickened the broth with potato starch (which is something I like).

Almost all of the turkey we had left over was dark meat, which was great. Well, it was a pain to get it off of the bones, but the flavor is much stronger.



Don't be shy about the salt and pepper -- particularly the pepper. This makes something like eight pounds of food so it needs no small amount of seasoning to make an impact.



My guess is that this recipe is pretty robust to changes. If you swap a cup of potatoes for a cup of carrots, it'll be fine. More turkey would be fine, though much less would be a problem. Potatoes, carrots, and celery are all pretty neutral. You'd need a replacement source of defining taste.

Relatedly, I'll say again: if working with smoked turkey or ham, I suggest adding 1 tsp rosemary. If working with ordinary turkey, use 1 tsp sage.