Göcsej turkey soup and turkey with apple sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 turkey leg, 1 turkey wing, 1 turkey backbone, salt, 4 carrots, 3 parsley roots, 1/2 root celery, 1/2 kohlrabi, 1 onion, a few black peppercorns, 2-3 stalks of fresh thyme or 1/2 tsp dried thyme, 1/2 tsp hot Piros Arany or Erős Pista, 200g frozen green peas (or fresh when in season), 200g white mushrooms
• for the liver dumpling: 1/4 bunch of parsley, 1/2 onion or 1 tsp Univer Onion Paste, 1 tbsp (30g) fat or 3 tbsp oil, 150g turkey liver (or chicken or pork liver), 1 bread roll, 1 egg, 2 tbsp each of flour and breadcrumbs, salt, ground black pepper, 1/2 tsp marjoram
• for the apple sauce: 4 apples, 3 tbsp granulated sugar, a bit of cinnamon, 2-3 cloves, the juice of half a lemon, a pinch of salt, 50g butter, 2 tbsp flour, 200ml milk, 3 tbsp each of sour cream, cooking cream and white wine

1. Cut the turkey leg at the joint. Cut around the drumstick half an inch away from the meat’s end to reveal the tendons, which may be removed with pincers. Wash it together with the wing and the backbone, and put all the meat in a pot. Add enough water to cover it 3 finger widths deep. Bring it to a boil, then reduce the heat and remove the grey foam that builds on the top. Add salt, 1 level tbsp for starters, then cover the pot leaving a small opening.

2. Clean the vegetables, cut them into halves and quarters, then add them to the meat. Add the parsley stalks tied in a bunch and add one stalk celery as well if you have it. Wash the onion thoroughly, then add it with the skin on. Flavour it with pepper, thyme and Piros Arany, then let it simmer over low heat for approx. 2.5 hours. Add the peas and sliced mushrooms 20 minutes before the soup is ready. Add more salt to taste.

3. While the soup is simmering, prepare the liver dumpling. Finely chop the parsley and the onion, then sauté them in oil or fat. If using onion paste fry it for just 30 seconds. Leave to cool. Mince the liver. Soak the bread roll in cold water, then squeeze out the water and mince it with the liver. Add a small slice of bread at the end to push out all the bread roll, as all of it will be needed in the liver mix. Add the egg, flour and breadcrumbs, salt and pepper to taste and marjoram as well. Work it thoroughly, then let it rest.

4. For the apple sauce, peel the apples and remove the core, then cut into 2cm pieces. Put them in a smaller pot, add 400ml water, sugar, the cinnamon and the cloves. Flavour with a little lemon juice and salt, and cook until tender, about 5 mins. Melt the butter in a small pot and add the flour, but do not allow it to brown. Add the milk and stir it while it thickens, then add the cooking water of the apples. Whisk it over low heat until the consistence of a sauce, and add the sour cream, the cooking cream and the wine. When done, add the cooked apples after you removed the cinnamon and cloves.

5. When the soup is ready, strain 2 ladlefuls into a smaller pot and bring it to boil. Shape smaller dumplings from the liver mixture and cook them in the soup over low heat for 15 mins.

6. Strain the rest of the soup through a clean tea towel or gauze. Slice the carrots, parsley roots (and even the celery and kohlrabi) and serve them with the mushrooms and peas into soup bowls and add the hot soup. Serve the cooked turkey as the main course with the hot apple sauce.

One portion of soup: 370 kcal, 
One serving of meat with apple sauce: 497 kcal