Turkey Vegetable Soup with Dressing Dumplings

Here's my contribution to today's "Soup Swap." I had a turkey breast that I roasted last week and pulled this recipe out to test for a post-Thanksgiving post in November. No reason to wait though. This is a great soup for a cold winter night. And while I bet you don't have leftover dressing just lying around, you certainly can whip up a batch of Stove Top to use for the dumplings. (Or just use your favorite dumplings recipe.)

Turkey Vegetable Soup with Dressing Dumplings
Makes 8 servings.

Carcass from one 12-14 pound roasted turkey, picked clean, plus 2 cups shredded cooked turkey meat (divided use)
2 large onions, 1 quartered and 1 chopped (divided use)
4 peeled carrots, 2 coarsely chopped and 2 sliced (divided use)
4 stalks celery, 2 coarsely chopped and 2 sliced (divided use)
6 garlic cloves, 4 smashed and 2 chopped (divided use)
1 bay leaf
10 whole black peppercorns
2 large eggs
6 tablespoons flour, plus more as needed
½ teaspoon salt, plus more as needed
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 cups leftover dressing
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 sprigs fresh thyme

Put the turkey carcass, quartered onions, coarsely chopped carrots and celery, smashed garlic, bay leaf and peppercorns in a large stockpot and add enough cold water to just cover, about 2 quarts. Bring the water to a boil, and then reduce the heat to maintain a gentle simmer and cook for 1 hour.

Remove from the heat and strain the solids from the broth. Pour the liquid through a fine mesh strainer and reserve; you should have about 10 to 12 cups broth.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk the eggs, flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt and some black pepper together until smooth. Add the leftover dressing and mix until well-combined; cover and reserve.

Wipe the stockpot clean with a paper towel. Heat the oil in the pot over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and garlic and cook until soft and translucent, about 6 minutes. Add the sliced carrots and celery, thyme and reserved broth and bring to a simmer; cook until vegetables are just soft, about 10 minutes.

Roll level tablespoons of the dumpling mixture into balls with wet hands (see Note) and drop into the simmering soup; cook until dumplings float, 3 to 4 minutes. Gently stir in the turkey meat and corn and season with salt and pepper, then simmer until heated through. Serve immediately. Makes 8 servings.

Note: Moistness of dressing can vary; if the dumpling dough is too soft to roll, add flour a teaspoon at a time until it is firm enough to hold its shape while rolling.