I mixed olive oil, minced garlic, dijon mustard, crushed red pepper, sea salt, and parsley to a thick paste-like consistency and then liberally smeared it UNDER and on the skin of the turkey (chickens for the clients, a turkey breast for me...they only had one left!). My intention was to get the flavor from the skin and use it to really seal in the rub, but not actually eat it. I made the mistake of trying a piece when I went to put it away. At lunchtime. Before I'd actually eaten lunch. at noon. when I ate breakfast at 6 am. Uhm....I think that's all the excuses I can come up with for ripping into this bird while it's still in the pan. but hey! less dishes! And it was delicious!
And I knew the kids would LOVE it. But they were at Chez Papa this weekend. And it only took three people (one of which is a body builder and one was me,a paleo eating Crossfitter. The other was just a normal red-blooded man.) twenty-four hours to reduce that beautiful bird to this:
I know! Pretty damn impressive amount of carnage is such a short time!
So that left me with a carcass that needed to be disposed of. And I hate wasting anything! And since it's over one hundred degrees today, the first thing that pops into my mind is making soup. And the first thing we need to do to make soup is to make stock.
So I throw the turkey carcass in a pot, add a roughly chopped onion (leave the skin on and it'll help give your stock that nice golden color), and some chunks of celery. Cover with water and simmer. Some people say to bring to a boil and then simmer for a short period of time. I tend to be more of the 'bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for a couple hours' kind of girl. I like thinking that I'm wrestling every last iota of flavor out of that bird. Especially since I don't add salt...the flavor needs to actually come from your ingredients! Once it's cooked, you let cool for a bit and then strain the solids out. You're left with a nice flavorful base to start building your soup with!
******************I always pick through the debris from the stock making and give the poached meat and veggies to Adeline Grace, along with some of the liquid. It makes for a very happy dog!
******************Next step: heading outside to raid the garden. I got a tomato, a baby yellow squash and a bit of basil. These I chopped up, along with some sweet peppers, onions,a jalapeno, and the last chicken breast I had in the fridge and sauteed in a bit of olive oil.
****************Don't sautee to long, you don't want a sodden mess of veggies. Just nicely tender-crisp, thank you very much!
From here, it's simply a matter of adding your stock and letting the whole thing simmer for a while to marry the flavors. And then all that's left to do is eat it! Simple, easy, fresh, and paleo!
