Boring turkey soup

[Valyn]

Help! I made some turkey soup with leftover white meat, barley, kale, homemade chicken stock and various veggies - carrots, onion, celery, the usual. And it's BORING!

Any suggestions on how to liven things up?

Thanks ever so.

[Valyn]

Thanks to everyone for the great ideas. At lunch today, I added fleur de del, pepper and a splash of rice wine vinegar and it was 100X better.

I like the idea of crispy pancetta, fresh herbs and some hot sauce (not all at once). I've got several more servings of this in the freezer so I can try them out over the next month.

[Davwud]

Have fun

DT

[DuchessNukem]

Make it into a white turkey chili with beans, chilies, seasonings -- here's a couple of recipes to guide:

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/white-turkey-chili.html

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/el...

[Heatherb]

I make a soup like that. I add herbs d' provence, white wine, a bay leaf and lots of garlic. Oooh, and leeks and wild rice. I've found that wild rice can really add a lot to a soup.

[thymetobake]

Another suggestion would be just simple tomato sauce and some additional herbs like thyme or oregano. Pureed canned or fresh, or spaghetti sauce out of the jar.

Top individual bowls with grated parm or romano.

[monavano]

I use tomato paste in my chicken and dumpling soup (it's got an Italian bent to it) and I love the deep flavor of the paste.

[thymetobake]

What a great idea. I love gnocchi with just a touch of tomato sauce and tons of parm. I can see how tomato in chicken and dumplings would be good. Thanks for the tip!

[Elster]

Add one of the following?

Smoked paprika
Some roughly pureed sweetcorn
Garam masala
Bits of pancetta, crisped in a pan and sprinkled on top
Fresh chopped parsley and dried oregano

It sounds like you need something with a strong, peppy flavour to just bring out the robust meatyness in your soup. One of these might just do the trick. :)

[Indy 67]

Buy a small can of chilies in adobo sauce. If you want a mild but zippy addition, remove the chilies from the sauce and simply add the adobo sauce. If you want a bit more heat, take one chile out, slit it open and scrape away the seeds. Then, finely dice the chiles. Add the combination of diced chile and adobo sauce.

Adobo sauce typically includes salt, pepper, vinegar, and chilies. It often includes tomatoes and onions.

[Davwud]

Do you mean boring as in "Same ole, same ole??""

If so, and this may sound weird but it's just what I'd do, add salsa. Outside of that, I would probably just try different add ins each bowl you have that would change it into something else. You may end up with the beginning of a different recipe.

If it's just flat then you need salt and/or pepper. Some acid may help as well as people have suggested.

DT

[thimes]

I was going to suggest a combination of what was already suggested by others

#1 salt, lack of salt in soup can make it very bland
#2 acid - lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, etc can do wonders

If it is a big batch and you're worried about experimenting, put some soup in a small bowl and add whatever you decide to try to see if it fixes it before you add to the whole pot.

[firecooked]

In situations like this, I add hot sauce: salt, acit, heat all in one

[nemo]

I've always found that if I saute the carrots, onion, and celery beforehand, then add the stock, it has better flavor. Not just a boiled vegetable taste. Do you go that route? Won't help you this time, but try it next time.

Otherwise, as suggested, more salt or a couple of teaspoons of Better Than Bouillon turkey or chicken paste.

[RealMenJulienne]

A drizzle of rice vinegar or lemon juice will enhance the flavor of almost any soup or stew. It wakes up your taste buds to the flavors of ingredients already present.

A couple pinches of MSG does wonders too.

[Kholvaitar]

Rivvels

[monavano]

Bay leaf.
Salt?

[hotoynoodle]

salt and acid of some sort.