Sherried Turtle Soup
Ingredients
- 1 cup bacon fat ⓘ
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour ⓘ
- 1/2 pound turtle meat (see your seafood specialty store), silver skin removed and cut into 1-inch pieces ⓘ
- 1/2 pound ground beef ⓘ
- 1 cup chopped bell pepper ⓘ
- 1 cup chopped celery ⓘ
- 1 cup chopped onion ⓘ
- 3 tablespoons chopped garlic ⓘ
- 1 cup diced canned tomatoes ⓘ
- 4 hard boiled eggs, peeled and diced ⓘ
- 3 cups chopped baby spinach ⓘ
- 2 cups white wine ⓘ
- 1 cup cream sherry (plus more to finish soup table side) ⓘ
- 2 cups chicken, pork or beef stock (or broth)
- 4 tablespoons hot sauce ⓘ
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire ⓘ
- 4 large bay leaves ⓘ
- 6 lemons ⓘ
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 4 tablespoons chopped green onions ⓘ
- 3 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley ⓘ
- Sherry and lemon wedges, for garnish
Instructions
- Take 1/2 cup of the bacon fat and in a thick-bottomed pan cook the flour slowly stirring constantly to a brownish-brick red color.
- Set aside carefully and cool.
- In a thick-bottomed pot, heat the remaining bacon fat and brown the turtle meat and ground beef thoroughly.
- Add the bell pepper, celery, onions and garlic and sweat until translucent.
- Add the tomatoes, eggs, spinach, wine, sherry, stock, hot sauce, Worcestershire and bay leaves and simmer 1 1/2 hours.
- Using a microplane and cut-resistant gloves, remove the yellow zest from the lemons avoiding the white pith; add to the soup.
- Cut the zested lemons and squeeze juice into the soup.
- In a bowl, add the cooled roux, then ladle some of hot soup into the bowl whisking with a wire whip until a smooth paste is formed; add one more ladle to the bowl, then add the contents back to the soup.
- Season to taste with salt and pepper and simmer for 1 hour.
- Note: this soup is best the next day; if doing so, cool the soup as quickly as possible and reheat slowly when you wish to serve it.
- Before serving, remove bay leaves.
- When serving, ladle the soup into bowls and top with additional sherry (3 tablespoons per bowl), green onions, parsley and a squeeze of lemon.
- This recipe was provided by professional chefs and has been scaled down from a bulk recipe provided by a restaurant.
- The Food Network Kitchens chefs have not tested this recipe, in the proportions indicated, and therefore, we cannot make any representation as to the results.
Nutrition & Diet Analysis (per serving)
726
kcal
36% DV
Protein
Fat
Carbs
* % Daily Values based on a 2,000 calorie diet (FDA 2020).