Turkey Minestrone Soup

Start taking out the pots and pans because you are going to want to make this soup tonight. Why? Because it's awesome! Honestly, minestrone soup has never appealed to me- partially because I don't like tomato based soups that much and partially because it always seemed like a pretty flavorless and blah soup and I'd much rather get my slurp on with a nice bowl of cream of anything soup. But I am swimming in lots of fresh, organic kale and trying to come up with new things to throw my kale into and minestrone popped into my mind. It should also be said that my husband has been asking for minestrone soup since day one but for the reasons outlined above I could never bring myself to make it. Well, let me tell you what made this soup awesome. Essentially what I did was create a turkey stock from turkey legs and classic stock vegetables and only after creating a rich flavorful broth did I start adding the ingredients to make it a classic minestrone. Using stock is always ideal but often it takes too much time to make or there is none left in the freezer and so the beauty of this recipe is that you make the stock in the same pot and at the same time as the soup. Then you also get the added bonus of chunks of tender turkey in your soup. Awesomeness. Of course, the kale in it was out of this world but feel free to substitute any local fresh green such as chard or spinach. Enjoy!



3 Tbl olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 carrots, diced
2 turkey legs (or the equivalent of turkey thigh or wings)
4 liters water, about 16 cups
3 Tbl tomato paste
1 can crushed or chopped tomatoes
1 can white beans (cannellini, great northern...)
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
3 zucchini, diced into a large dice
100 grams, about 4 cups Kale, swiss chard or spinach , roughly chopped
1 cup dried pasta, cooked separately till al dente and set aside

In a large pot heat the olive oil and saute the onion, garlic and celery together until translucent. Add the turkey legs, the water, season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and then reduce to medium and let it cook for about an hour to an hour and a half until the turkey legs are tender. Skim any fat or residue and remove the turkey legs and set aside. Add the tomato paste, chopped tomatoes, oregano, basil, beans and zucchini. Shred the meat from the turkey legs and add into the pot. Re-season well with salt and pepper and cook together for half an hour. In the last few minutes of cooking at the kale and cook until wilted. Add some cooked pasta to each bowl before serving to avoid the pasta getting mushy. Enjoy!