I made this quick soup for lunch today using my leftovers from turkey day. I didn’t boil the carcass like I should have for a couple of hours because it got tossed ( I know, I know), instead I just used one leg and one wing that I had saved and it still was mighty good!
I make this type of soup often in the winter, beans with greens, with or without pasta, sometimes chicken, sometimes not, turkey in this case, and other vegetables I want to use up.
I recently made some Corzetti, which are thin rounds of pasta which is embossed and stamped with a design (more on that in a future post). I had one bag left in my freezer so I added that to my soup but you could certainly add some nice shells or even broken up lasagna sheets, basically any favorite pasta of your choice, it’s all good. With in an hour my soup was on the table and warming me up!
- 1 turkey leg and 1 wing leftover and cooked from Thanksgiving
- 1 extra large leek, cleaned and sliced
- chopped kale, a few handfuls
- 2 cloves minced garlic
- 2 cans, cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
- 3 slices of chopped precooked bacon, optional
- water and broth, enough to cover turkey parts plus a little more
- 2 parmesan rinds to flavor broth
- ½ lb of cooked pasta, tossed in a tiny bit of olive oil and set aside separately
- parsley, red pepper flakes and thyme
- salt and pepper to taste, plus grated cheese
- In a large pot add turkey leg and wing and enough broth to cover plus a little more. Add in parmesan rinds.
- Cook turkey meat for around 40 minutes then remove leg and wing, take the meat off and then place shredded meat back into the pot.
- In a saute pan add leeks, or onions, garlic and kale until slightly wilted, then add to large pot.
- Add rinsed beans and chopped cooked bacon.
- Add seasonings and cook for 20 more miinutes, remove rinds.
- Ladle into bowls then add your cooked pasta and additional cheese.
Besides all the traditional dishes of Thanksgiving like stuffing, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green beans and cranberries, I like to throw in a few extras, sometimes it’s simply roasted seasonal vegetables.
Different shaped squash, colorful carrots and vibrant greens are the perfect backdrop on a pretty platter, you can roast them ahead of time, reheat in a hot oven and finish them off with a good drizzle of balsamic glaze!
In my family we all like brussel sprouts in some form or another so I always try to have them on my Thanksgiving table, this year I’m doing a Kale and Brussel Sprout Salad. ( recipe below)
It’s fresh, crunchy, creamy, slightly sweet with a tiny bit of heat and laced with freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano, lemon and Marcona almonds and plumped cranberries.
I seriously could eat this for lunch everyday, it’s that good! Pull out a large bowl because you’ll be surprised how much it makes with just one bunch of kale and half a bag of brussel sprouts. I encourage you to double the recipe please!
Everyone needs a little decadence during the holidays and these Cipollini bathing in Creamy Parmesan and Thyme sauce are the perfect addition to your table, besides they’re small and a few on your plate won’t hurt you! Cipollini are the saucer shaped onions but you can certainly replace them with pearl onions which are even smaller.
Roast your onions ahead of time in a 400 degree oven until golden, then place them into a shallow baking dish. Meanwhile in a separate saucepan place 2 cups of cream and three sprigs of thyme, salt and pepper, when cream starts to come to a boil remove pan from the stove and stir in 3/4 cup of grated parmesan, add salt to taste, then spoon it over and around the onions. Sprinkle additional 1/4 cup of grated parmesan on top and place into the oven at 450 for 15 minutes or until the cream has thickened.
Creamy Fennel with Parmesan and Thyme, another decadent treat! Prepare it the same way as the onions above, slightly roasting the fennel before hand. I used three bulbs thinly sliced.
I usually make a side of pasta on Thanksgiving and either 
But my all time favorite are these 
Yesterday I spent the whole day with family making Cucidati, Italian fig cookies. We stopped counting at 500 but I think it was actually close to 600 in the end. I figure if you’re going to do this only once a year you might as well go big!
Everything was prepped the night before so when everyone arrived we could get right down to the business of making and baking the cookies, we knew it would be an all day project.
My husband has a soft spot for Cucidati, 
They also brought along some of this fabulous pistachio liqueur to sip as we were baking, it’s become our tradition and it pairs perfectly while you’re taste testing the cookies. ( wink, wink!) Besides fig and pistachio are a perfect match! 
After a few minutes everyone got in their groove doing their specific jobs, we had the music going and we started pumping them out!
Straight from the oven onto my marble dining room table which was a good spot for them to cool down on.
When we got half way through the dough we stopped for a lunch break of lentil soup and a frittata, then back to work!
The table started filling up fast after lunch so it was time to get them frosted so the glaze would be completely dry before they got packed into containers.
A proud moment, waiting for the last two batches in my oven to come out and then every inch on my dining room table would be filled with fig cookies!
The best part, enjoying the fruits of our labor!
I’m Marie, a wife, mother, mother-in-law, and gramma of two beautiful girls. My passion is food, clear and simple but especially Italian food, hence the name of my blog, Proud Italian Cook. I want you to feel right at home here so grab a cup of coffee, I’ll get the pastries, take a look around and enjoy your visit! {
