There are only two things I like about Thanksgiving in America: the food and the people eating that food with me. Recently, when I wanted a taste of those comforting flavors - but had no desire to cook a multicourse meal - I came up with this soup recipe, redolent of sage-scented turkey, sweet squash, stewed vegetables and buttery stuffing that often dress a Thanksgiving table. The smells and textures of those dishes on the same plate, in the same bite, are so deeply embedded in my mind that the moment I notice a golden leaf with crimson edges fall at my feet, my brain fast-forwards to an image of the previous year’s Thanksgiving table.
This year, that moment happened during the second week of September. That’s when I developed this recipe for a soup that pulls in the harvest holiday’s best. Last year, I celebrated Thanksgiving in Tucson with my family.
There was roasted squash, stewed leafy greens, burnished turkey, all of the potatoes and a mountain of herb-flecked stuffing. That memory inspired this soup, which starts with a foundational combination of onions, carrots and celery. Sprigs of herbs go in along with extra-lean ground turkey.
(Using fattier meat will turn the soup greasy if it’s not drained.) Once the meat is broken up into bits and cooked through, an optional splash of wine goes in, followed by diced butternut squash and lots of broth. Chopped kale melts into the bubbling broth near the end.
I opted to use frozen diced butternut squash here, because it.