Turkey Congee

Traditional Vietnamese Congee

This has often been the traditional day after Thanksgiving soup. It's a simple soup that I use to make the most of those wonderful leftovers. I was inspired by a recipe for Vietnamese Congee, which is a strong broth poured over rice, boiled meat and vegetables. Mine is little heartier using broth made from the Thanksgiving Turkey and leftovers like stuffing, potatoes and veggies in cream sauce.


Turkey Congee

The broth:

After cutting off the remaining meat and scooping out the last of the stuffing, put the carcass of your Thanksgiving turkey (or any roasted or baked poultry at any other time of the year) in a large soup pot. Add 3 or 4 celery ribs and about 3 carrots along with salt and peppercorns to taste. Cover the bird to about an inch over it's top with water. The seasonings can be adjusted through the cooking process, but I usually rely on the flavors from the spices I used on the turkey and dressing to flavor the broth. Bring to a boil on high heat and reduce the heat to medium low. Let the broth simmer for up to 6 hours.

When the broth has a rich flavor, remove it from the heat. Strain the broth into a soup tureen or a new pot. retain the celery and carrots to use in the base. Discard the carcass and any remaining pieces of bone.


The base:

This is where it becomes your personal soup! In the original Vietnamese recipe, it calls for rice spooned into the bowl with some cubed boiled meat and vegetables like bean sprouts or curly leaf cabbage. In my after Thanksgiving recipe, I cut into bite sized pieces some of the remaining turkey meat, make stuffing cubes with some of that Mom's Recipe Sage Dressing, and some of the leftover tortellini from our Thanksgiving Day soup. (Tortellini will usually absorb what's left of the broth over night and that adds even more flavor to the Congee) Every year I make a different kind of potato and veggie with Grandma. so every year the congee has a flair all of it's own. Sometimes the potatoes are roasted or they are done in parsley and butter, I use a dollop of mashed the years we do them that way. The veggies are usually in a butter, cream or cheese sauce and a spoon of that adds to the congee flavor too. I also cut the celery and carrots from making the broth and add those too. I even cube some of the leftover cheeses from the fruit and cheese tray. (Havarti in this congee is SO good!) The base ingredients don't have to be warned up, but get them on the table while the broth is reheating so they aren’t refrigerator-cold!


Dinner time!

To serve the congee, I put the tureen with the hot broth in the middle of the table and surround it with the smaller bowls with the base ingredients so everyone can choose their own things to add to the broth.

Spoon the base ingredients of your choice into the center of the bowl. Ladle hot broth over the base ingredients to cover and enjoy!

Congee is really great with a lightly toasted piece of bread or roll leftover from Turkey Day and a slice of that leftover pumpkin pie for dessert!