Turkey Pho {Leftover Turkey Makeovers}

I’m going to be bringing you my favourite turkey or turkey leftovers recipes all this week in the lead-up to my favourite holiday of the year: Thanksgiving! Today’s recipe is MY FAVOURITE LEFTOVER DISH OF ALL TIME. Turkey Pho. I mean, really. I get wistful just thinking about it. And if you’re looking for a whole bird recipe, try this EXCELLENT and popular tutorial on “How to Smoke a Turkey”

My kids, husband, and I are all BONKERS for Pho {Vietnamese Noodle Soup}. They are finely tuned to know when I’m making it, too. They come floating into the kitchen, noses in the air, sniffing and rapturously exclaiming, “That’s GOTTA be pho! Oh, YAY!” These boys of mine are no fools. It’s all in the broth and garnishes, when it comes to pho (see my recipe for it here)… aromatics upon aromatics upon aromatics. If your nose could get drunk with happiness off of a smell, pho would do it.

Leftover Thanksgiving turkey is the perfect candidate for a makeover into for Turkey Pho. All that lovely leftover feast food is wonderful, but once you get to day three or four or five of turkey and mashed potatoes and gravy, who doesn’t want to change things up a bit? If you are a fan of pho, you can probably imagine just how wonderful a switch-up turkey pho would be to the normal tetrazzini, casserole, yadda yadda leftover treatment. It’s fragant, lovely, and fresh in flavour, but still manages to fill you up all while not weighing you down.

And talk about easy… you toast your spices, add stock and other aromatics, and simmer until fragrant.Pile some soaked noodles, leftover turkey, and a couple of jalapeno slices in a bowl, pour the stock over it and garnish with all sorts of fresh, tasty things. If you want, you can add sriracha and hoisin sauce to the bowl to bump the flavour up even higher. This is the stuff, friends! Simple, filling, and tasty enough to be habit forming.

Cook’s Notes

• It probably goes without saying it, but that never stopped me before… This soup will SING if you make it with homemade stock from your turkey carcass. If you don’t have time (or didn’t cook a whole turkey), you can absolutely, positively still make this from a decent canned chicken or turkey stock and it will be delicious. The stock gets a MAJOR boost in the flavour department from the toasted spices and whatnot anyway.
• Noodles… let’s talk about them. These pho noodles rock. Rice noodles are the most traditional (and tastiest) choice. They have the added convenience of not needing to be boiled. You can soak them in super hot water for 10 minutes in a bowl while you’re simmering the stock or prepping the rest of the ingredients. Iiiiiiiif you can’t find them, you could conceivably substitute in cooked linguine, but the rice noodles really drive home the whole Vietnamese flavour profile!
• Toasted spices: Watch ‘em. Oh please watch them. Don’t walk out of the room. The second you smell them you add that stock or broth pronto and watch out for the sputtering!
• Be generous in your servings! Pho is traditionally served in bowls about as big as your head. Fill it up!

Turkey Pho {Leftover Turkey Makeovers}

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Rebecca Lindamood

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Ingredients

  

For 1 quart of the Broth:

• 2 tablespoons whole coriander seeds
• 1 cinnamon stick roughly broken
• 4 whole star anise
• 4 whole cloves
• 1 quart turkey or chicken
• 1 piece of ginger 3-inch size, roughly chopped
• 1 bunch of scallions or green onions reserve the green parts for garnishing the soup, white parts only
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 2 teaspoons brown sugar

For assembling and garnishing each bowl of Pho:

• 1-5 slices fresh jalapeno pepper depending on your spice tolerance
• 1 handful pho rice noodles soaked or cooked according to package directions
• several thin slices of leftover turkey or shredded leftover turkey meat
• 1 generous handful bean sprouts
• sliced scallions or green onions to taste green parts only
• several sprigs of fresh basil
• sprigs of fresh cilantro
• 1-3 lime wedges
• sriracha and/or hoisin sauce to taste

Instructions

 

• Place a heavy-bottomed soup pot over medium low heat. Add all of the spices and stir them until fragrant, about 1 to 2 minutes. Carefully add the stock or broth; it will sputter quite a bit. Turn the heat to high and add the remaining broth ingredients. When it reaches a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered for 20-30 minutes. Strain the broth through a fine-mesh sieve into another saucepot or soup pot. Keep it at a simmer while you assemble your bowls and garnishes.

To Assemble and Garnish Each Bowl of Pho:

• Lay desired amount of jalapeno slices in the bottom of each bowl. Top with a generous amount of rice noodles. Lay the turkey over the noodles and pour the boiling broth over top. Give a quick stir to help heat the turkey, then pile on bean sprouts, sliced scallions (green onions), basil, and cilantro. Squeeze a couple of lime wedges and let them rest in the broth to lend to the flavour. Serve with sriracha and/or hoisin sauce. It's best to serve this the traditional way: with chopsticks AND a soup spoon. You can use a fork in lieu of chopsticks if you wish. Slurping is encouraged!

Nutritional information is an estimate and provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.

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This is my sixth post in my commitment to post every. single. day in November for NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month). Follow the craziness all month as I share recipes, family anecdotes, and throw a couple of giveaways in for good measure!