This is a Sunday soup (or, in this case, a Tuesday soup). It’s a perfect antidote to a long holiday weekend punctuated with big meals and late evenings. It’s restorative, healthy, and nourishing and a perfect time-out meal to enjoy on a relaxed evening with no social agenda. It’s also a simple way to use some of that leftover turkey lurking in your fridge. If you don’t have turkey, fear not, chicken works just as well, so if you’ve soldiered through your Thanksgiving leftovers you can easily use cooked chicken meat or a rotisserie chicken from your local store or farmer’s market. That’s why I often call this a Tur-Chicken soup.
There are two important ingredients I like to add to this soup. Shiitake mushrooms impart a slinky umami flavor to the stock, and farro, an ancient nutty wheat grain, lends satisfying heft to each slurp. Use pearled or semi-pearled farro for easiest cooking. Whole grain farro, while the healthiest option, requires soaking and a long cooking time of at least one hour, and has a distinct earthy flavor. Milder semi-pearled farro still retains some of its nutritious bran and germ but is scored to hasten cooking, and pearled farro is completely stripped, thus the least nutritious, but quickest to cook. If farro is not available, pearl barley is a good substitute.
Turkey and Farro Soup with Carrots and Shiitake Mushrooms
Active Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 40 to 50 minutes
Serves 4 to 6
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
2 medium carrots, sliced 1/4 inch thick
6 ounces small shiitake mushrooms, ends trimmed
6 cups turkey or chicken stock
1/2 cup pearled farro or pearl barley
2 thyme sprigs or 1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cups shredded cooked turkey or chicken breast meat
2 tablespoons finely chopped Italian flat leaf parsley
Heat the oil in a soup pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté until it softens without coloring, about 3 minutes. Toss in the carrots and mushrooms and sauté until the carrots brighten in color and the mushrooms begin to release their juices, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the farro and cook briefly, stirring to coat and lightly toast the grains, and then add the stock, thyme, and bay leaf. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer until the farro is tender, 30 to 40 minutes. Stir in the chicken (or turkey), salt, and pepper and top off with additional stock if needed. Simmer until the chicken is heated through. Ladle the soup into bowls, and serve hot, garnished with the parsley.