So it’s after Thanksgiving and many of you are wondering if you should make some soup with that giant carcass you‘ve been storing in the fridge. Well, ABSOLUTELY you should! Why not? The stove does most of the work. When else can you throw a bunch of stuff in a pot and after 4 hours, VOILA. You have magic!? And cheap magic at that!
I decided to do something a little different this year. I found on Epicurious a great recipe to make some asian ramen bowls. The stock has an asian slant using Ginger and Daikon. I had never done it this way, and was very intrigued. I usually do a simple stock using onions and carrots, maybe celery. Typical stuff. I adapted it to our preferences. I cooked the shitake and tofu a little more than the original recipe called for, and simplified toppings for the palate of an 11 year old.
We found we really liked using ham with the turkey. Whether we do this recipe again next year or not, we probably will always add some pork to the mix. It just richens and sweetens the gaminess of the turkey.
Hope you had a great holiday with family! Now off to the races with the next one!
Savory Turkey Ramen Bowls
Ingredients
For the broth
1 turkey carcass, from a 12 to 15 pound turkey
1 pound of smoked country ham, bone in
1 10” Daikon radish, peeled and roughly chopped
3 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
2” knob of Ginger root, peeled and sliced
6 cloves of garlic, peeled
2 medium onions, peeled and chopped 1
1 cup parsley sprigs
1 Tbsp. whole peppercorns
half a lemon
32 cups of water
For the Ramen Bowls
8 cups broth from above
1 Tbsp. fish sauce
2 Tbsp. yellow miso
2 ½ tsp. soy sauce
2 tsp. white distilled vinegar
12 oz. ramen noodles -I used 3 oz. ramen packages and discarded the flavor packets
1-2 cups reserved turkey meat from the carcass
2-4 eggs
¼ cup chopped scallions
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
10 oz. extra firm tofu, diced
1 cup shitake mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
dashes of hot sauce optional
Directions
Step 1, make the stock
Get a massive pot, and throw your ingredients in there, including all the water.
Cover and get it to a boil, then lower your heat and simmer gently for 4 hours, uncovered.
After 4 hours, let cool slightly, then strain through a fine mesh sieve after discarding your big bones and meat first out of the broth. At this point you can refrigerate your broth for a few days, or even freeze it. Let it cool down first before covering and storing.
Step 2, make the ramen bowls
In a small saucepan filled with boiling water, gently drop in your eggs using a slotted spoon. Wait until the water comes back to a boil, then time your eggs for 7 minutes. Have iced water waiting in a bowl, and once 7 minutes are up, gently pull the eggs out using a slotted spoon and drop them into the iced water. Once cool enough to handle, crack the shell off and slice the eggs in half to place in the ramen bowls as a final garnish. Set aside.
Measure 8 cups of the stock and heat up in a medium saucepan. Add the miso, soy sauce, fish sauce and vinegar. Heat to a gentle simmer. Next add the tofu and shitake and heat through for about 3 minutes. Next break up the ramen noodles, and add to the broth. Simmer the noodles for 3 minutes. Finally add the reserved turkey meat and cook until heated through.
Ladle the ramen and broth into large bowls, making sure you have generous amounts of tofu turkey and shitakes. Garnish the tops with scallions and cilantro, and nestle in your egg halves. Serve with hot sauce on the side.
Flora is an award-winning creative director in Chicago turned food and lifestyle blogger extraordinaire. She is also author to the popular BEE NATIVE! gardening book series and various children's books that celebrate the wonder and hard work of bees and butterflies. Her blog and social spaces inspire thousands to create, learn, cook, grow, and craft, making their world lovelier one pixel/petal/seed/bite/stitch/brushstroke at a time. Follow her on all the social spaces, YouTube, and Amazon, and get creative!
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