Roast Turkey Pho

In a few days Thanksgiving will have come and gone and you'll likely be left with a pile of leftover turkey meat. I don't know about you but I easily get bored of reheating leftovers to the same meals that I once had them.

Which is why I decided to share some recipes with you that can be make with leftovers in advance of Thanksgiving. Takes the planning out of it!                            

Roast Turkey Pho
Adapted from: Cooking Light
Servings: 6-8
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Ingredients:

for the broth:

• • • carcass of a 12 lb. turkey 
    • 1 large yellow onion, quartered
    • 1 lemon, quartered
    • 1 garlic head, halved crosswise
    • 3 tbsp. canola oil
    • 6 cups water
    • 3 cups chicken (or turkey) broth
    • 1 tbsp. whole black peppercorns
    • 2 tsp. brown sugar
    • 3 star anise
    • 3-inch piece of ginger, peeled and sliced

for the soup:

• • 10 oz. shredded turkey (breast, thigh, etc.)
  • 1 ½ tbsp. fish sauce
  • ½ tsp. salt
  • 4 oz. uncooked wide rice noodles 
  • 1 tbsp. chili oil
  • 1 cup carrot, peeled and sliced
  • 1 cup basil leaves
  • ½ cup cilantro leaves
  • ½ cup thinly sliced red onion
  • 1 jalapeno pepper, thinly sliced
  • 1 lime, sliced into wedges 

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. On a rimmed baking sheet, combine the turkey carcass, onion, lemon and garlic. Drizzle the canola oil over the ingredients. Roast for 40 minutes or until everything is a deep golden brown, turning over once halfway through.
3. Transfer the ingredients of the baking sheet to a large stock pot, discarding any fat. Pour the water into the stock pot followed by the remaining broth ingredients (through ginger).
4. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 1 hour. Strain through a fine mesh sieve, discarding the solids.
5. Return the broth to the stock pot and add the shredded turkey, fish sauce and salt. Cook for 5 minutes or until heated through.
6. Prepare the noodles according to package directions, omitting any salt and fat. Drain the noodles and divide between 6-8 bowls. Pour the hot broth over the noodles and then drizzle with chili oil. Stir in the carrots, basil and cilantro leaves, red onion and jalapeno pepper. Squeeze the lime wedge into the soup.

In order to make this more appealing to Tom I omitted the bean sprouts and added carrots. (Plus my local store doesn't carry them) I thought this was delicious. It's time consuming to make the stock, but you could easily just use prepared chicken or turkey broth if you don't have the initial hour and 40 minutes for roasting and simmering.