Recipe - Ground Turkey and Vegetable Soup

It doesn't get all that cold during the fall and winter seasons in southern California but based on the average temperature in this area, it gets relatively cold. It's a good excuse to indulge in soup...and I am a soup fiend, it feels like. I guess it stems from how we used to have some kind of soup or broth with every dinner when I was growing up. It could have been just as simple as a broth made from daikon but without fail, a small bowl to sup from would be the "first" course before we dug into the meal family-style. Soup is comforting but hearty, hefty ones even more so. Combining the trinity of vegetables with some lean ground turkey yields this beautifully savory soup with a medley of components. I hope you'll give it a try and enjoy!


Step 1: Ingredients (yields 6-8 servings)

• 1 1/4 lb ground turkey, lean
• 1 cup celery, chopped
• 1 cup red onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 cups beef broth
• 1 cup tomato sauce
• 2 tsps worcestershire sauce
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup French-style green beans
• 1 cup carrots, peeled and sliced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tsp dried parsley
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper

Step 2: Prepping ingredients
There are certainly a lot of ingredients here but the most prep you'll need to do is just chop and slice. In a Dutch oven, brown ground turkey with celery and red onion. Then add minced garlic.

Step 3: Finishing
Here's the easy part. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Then simmer for 45 minutes and enjoy!


Photography by Duc Duong.