Turkey Soup by Carl Everett - from "Crowding the Plate: Favorite Recipes of the Boston Red Sox" (2001)

RECIPE

turkey carcass
1 onion, quartered
3/4 teaspoon garlic salt
1 bay leaf
1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes
1 1/2 cups fresh carrots, diced
1 1/2 cups fresh celery, diced
3 chicken bouillon cubes
1 tsp. basil
1 tbsp. parsley
cooked rice or noodles

In a large pot place turkey carcass, onion, garlic salt and bay leaf; simmer for 2-2 1/2 hours.

Strain through cheesecloth and reserve broth; chill broth to remove fat.

Once the turkey is cool enough, break into bite size pieces.

Add can of diced tomatoes, vegetables, bouillon cubes, basil, parsley and turkey pieces; simmer.

Add cooked rice or noodles. [I went with rice.]

It's Thanksgiving weekend in Canada, and here's a thematic soup from Carl Everett -- member of the World Series-winning 2005 Chicago White Sox.

When Frank Thomas went down with injury for most of the 2005 season, Everett stepped up as the club's starting DH.

Everett is also known for holding some peculiar beliefs and turning them into memorable quotes, like this one:

"God created the sun, the stars, the heavens and the earth, and
 then made Adam and Eve. The Bible never says anything
 about dinosaurs. You can't say there were dinosaurs when you
 never saw them. Someone actually saw Adam and Eve. No one ever
 saw a Tyrannosaurus Rex."

Anyway... Everett played for a slew of different teams over his career including a stop in Boston, where he submitted this recipe for the 2001 Red Sox cookbook.

I made a couple of tweaks to this recipe. Since I didn't have a turkey carcass kicking around the kitchen, I picked up a smoked turkey leg from the local market. This infused the broth with an amazing smokey aroma. Turkey legs are huge, so there was the added visual amusement of imagining a pterodactyl leg simmering on the stovetop -- just for you Crazy Carl!

The second tweak was to replace the can of diced tomatoes (of which I am not a fan) with half a jar of spicy salsa. This gave the soup more flavour and a bit of kick as well.

One turkey leg plus the above ingredients produced a lot of soup for a Thanksgiving meal, or for freezing and enjoying during the winter. This is one that I will definitely make again.