Thanksgiving Turkey Leftover Soup

"Hey, can you meet me in the garage in 5 min? I have a turkey" I shouted, phone balanced on one ear.
"you have a what?"
"Just meet me in 5 min and I'll explain"
"Alright" Christina said.
As I backed into the parking space, Christina appeared in my field of vision and I felt an overwhelming sense of joy.

It had been a strange morning. Through fate, circumstance and cooking, I have recently become acquainted with a friend who is a very active member of a Catholic church. We are planning a cooking project together based out of one of their kitchens, and while trying to come up with a time to meet and tour the facility he asked me if I would like to join them in handing out food boxes for Thanksgiving.
"Sure" I said, without thinking.

So at 8am on Saturday morning, I got in my car and headed to Saint Philips church in North Minneapolis. I walked up to the massive wooden doors with the curiosity of a cat discovering a cabinet ajar. It is not that I haven't been in a church before, however in the current religious political climate with media images of evangelical Christians holding anti same sex union signs, I wondered if I might be tarred and feathered at the door. Inside the walls of the church there was holy water, a giant crucifix, and an organ. These images reminded me of itchy tights and hard wooden pews and controlling my manners.

The volunteers stood around the coffee and donuts. They were nervous and fidgety, and eager be of service. I got the sense that I was not the only person in the room feeling that they were waiting to be found out and expelled from the premises. The group was so diverse, that no comfortable division of "us vs them" mentality could be constructed as the shelter of false intimacy.

It seemed everyone there was trapped in their own labyrinth, seeking answers to the riddle of which parts of them fit in with the group. It was the perfect opportunity to investigate the question of which pieces of me are mine alone, and which ones are common to fabric of the quilt of humanity? And then their was turkey. Fifty five boxes of turkey came and went in a flash, the remaining boxes sat, and sat, and we in the church began to slump into chairs in the sunset of our exhilaration. At around noon, a little girl showed up alone for her family's box of food. "Where are your parents child?" one of the volunteers asked. "They're sleeping" she said. It was a heartbreaking moment.

Many of the families who had registered for turkeys never came to pick up their dinner boxes, and the volunteers ended up taking boxes home. I backed my car slowly into it's parking spot, Christina waiting with open arms to help me carry the 15 lb turkey up to our apartment. "What are we going to do with a whole turkey?" she said. "Well roast it and share it for soup on Sunday!"

Thanksgiving turkey leftover soup:

Step one: have a delightful thanksgiving dinner. Save the carcass once the turkey has been carved (carving is meditative for me. I try slice and lift each piece off balanced carefully between fork and carving knife, just like my father always does.)

Step two: make a turkey stock. Break up the carcass and put it into a soup pot with the pan drippings (if you have any left), some peppercorns, 5 bay leaves, 1-2 yellow onions, and 4 stocks of celery. Cover with water bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 3-4 hours.

Step three: When the soup stock is almost done, place a small rice pot on the stove and add 1/2 small diced yellow onion and a pinch of salt. Add some dried sage and 1 cup of rinsed wild rice. Pour 2 cups of turkey soup stock directly from the stock pan into the rice (avoid vegetables and fat layer on top). Cover rice and cook until tender.

Step four: In a separate pot, place 1/2 small onion diced, some salt, 3 stocks celery diced, 4 mushrooms diced, 4 small carrots peeled and diced, and a pinch of salt. Add some cut up turkey leftovers. Add 6-8 cups of turkey stock (strained) and the wild rice. If you prefer, use a gravy separator to skim off the fat layer on the top of the stock before pouring it in. Season and serve!