Turkey Tomato Soup - Its the Spices

Besides being quite a budget stretcher, delicious is all I can say about this Turkey Tomato Soup. Gary rated it the best soup ever; I said its the spices. You could even leave out the turkey and it would be good. Saute one onion and four stalks of celery and four carrots chopped fine in some olive oil. Add 6 cups of water and 2 small cans of fire roasted chopped tomatoes and one can of tomato paste.

The fire roasted tomatoes give it that dark rich color. When I opened the can I saw some dark spots and wondered if the tomatoes were bad. Then I noticed in smaller print 'fire roasted'. Believe it or not they were wally world brand.

Add 1/4 cup of molasses, two tablespoons of honey, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, thyme, coriander, fennel seed, three star anise seed, cinnamon, two bay leaves, and cayenne pepper. Let's see what did I leave out? If I did I'll add to this post.

Add two raw turkey legs and simmer soup on low till meat is falling off the bone, which is several hours, don't rush it. Remove bones and remove meat from bones and chop small, being careful to discard all the cartilage of the legs. Add turkey meat back into soup as well as long leg bones and cook at least another hour. For the last half hour add one half cup of brown lentils.

At the end add one teaspoon of baking soda and stir till soup stops foaming which removes excess acidity from the tomatoes. Then remove leg bones, bay leaves, and anise seed, discard, and serve the soup. The two of us enjoyed this Turkey Tomato Soup for almost a week. Enjoy and be well.