I found a great way to use the serrano peppers from my garden

 I like to garden. For me, it's quite satisfying to walk into my backyard and pick something ripe and fresh to eat. 

The trouble is, my yard is not very conducive to growing a prolific garden. My yard is blessed with an abundance of tall, leafy trees. But they cast so much shade that it stunts most garden plants that I'm trying to grow.

Example: tomatoes. I can't resist trying to grow tomatoes. But because of the shade, the plants put all their energy into trying to grow tall, and I end up harvesting just a couple of handfuls of small tomatoes. If they didn't taste so good, I'd quit trying. 

The other problem is wild animals. We have deer, raccoons, squirrels, and rabbits galore. They like to feast on my vegetables as much as I do. 

So each summer, I plant a few tomatoes and other items and just hope to be able to harvest enough to make it worthwhile. 

First batch of ripe serranoes

There are a few things, however, that usually thrive in my yard. Herbs, for example. I have perennial chives and garlic chives, mint, and oregano that come back every year with abundance. I also usually have good luck with basil, parsley, rosemary, and sage. (This year, my sage plants withered, and my rosemary just didn't do very well. On the other hand, I harvested a nice amount of tarragon. So that was nice.)

The other thing that usually does well in my yard is peppers. I grow them in pots and have them placed where they can get some good, direct sunlight. The plants usually grow tall, like the tomatoes. But I usually get a good harvest of peppers. This year, I planted serranoes, and I was pleased with my harvest. 

I posted a photo on Facebook with the plant before I harvested them. I got a nice reply from a friend in California who suggested that I use the serranoes to make zhug. Zhug, it turns out, is a Yemenite pepper sauce made with lots of herbs and garlic. I decided to give it a try.

My friend's suggestion didn't include a recipe. So I went online in search of a recipe. I came across a blog called Chili Pepper Madness. Not only did that blogger have a recipe for zhug, he has a very cool web site with lots of fun info about peppers and, of course, recipes. 

Personally, I like hot peppers and spicy food. My wife does not. But with zhug, I can make a dinner entrée mild to suit her taste and then add the zhug to spice it up. I add it to pizza and soup and pasta. I also put it on a grilled hamburger and used it to spice up a homemade black bean patty. (Here's the recipe for the black bean patty that I got from the New York Times Cooking page.)

These ingredients + olive oil = zhug

Here's the link to the zhug recipe on the Chili Pepper Madness blog. I followed the recipe pretty closely and only made a couple of changes. The blog post describing zhug states that cilantro is an optional addition, but the recipe as posted calls for a cup of cilantro. I don't particularly like cilantro, so I didn't use it. Instead, I substituted several of the fresh herbs that do well in my yard. The original recipe calls for 'chiles de arbol.' I didn't have any, and I could have used dried pepper flakes. But I didn't; I just left that ingredient out. Finally, the original recipe calls for 4 garlic cloves. I only used two. 

I've included the recipe at the end of this post with my modifications, but I encourage you to look at the zhug recipe on the Chili Pepper Madness site as well. The original version turned out very bright green. Mine did not (see photo below) I think because I used ripe, red serranoes rather than green ones. 

Zhug Yemenite Hot Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
• ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
• ½ teaspoon coriander seeds
• ½ teaspoon cardamom seeds
• Salt to taste I use about a teaspoon
• 1 cup loosely packed fresh herbs (such as oregano, mint, cilantro)
• 1 cup loosely packed parsley
• 5-6 serrano peppers chopped
• 2 cloves garlic crushed
• Juice from 1 lemon about 2-3 tablespoons
• ½ cup extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

Grind the peppercorns, cumin seeds, coriander seeds and cardamom seeds in a mortar and pestal into a coarse powder. Alternatively, you can start with powdered versions of these ingredients. Add them to a food processor along with the salt.

Add the remaining ingredients except for the olive oil to the food processor and pulse until the ingredients are chunky but combined. Do not overprocess or you’ll lose the desireable texture.

Drizzle in the olive oil and pulse/process until the oil is emulsified and the remaining sauce is thick and chunky.

Adjust for salt and use as needed.

Notes:

Makes about 1.5 cups. 

Heat Level: Medium-Hot, because of the use of serrano peppers. You can easily dial back the heat by using milder peppers.

Store your zhug in an airtight container in the refrigerator. 

My new view of the world

I see the world differently now. I don't mean psychologically. It doesn't have anything to do with the COVID pandemic or the Black Lives Matter protests. I mean physically. I had cataract surgery and am amazed by what a change it's making in my vision.

I have bad eyes. My ophthalmologist says "very bad eyes." I got glasses when I was about 10 years old. My school teacher must have told my mother that I couldn't read things on the blackboard. So we went to an eye doctor. He checked my eyes and confirmed that I am very near-sighted. He put on a pair of sample glasses that approximated my prescription. I looked out the window and saw people walking by. "Am I supposed to be able to see people on the sidewalk?" I asked in amazement.

Before cataract surgery

So I wore glasses for about 8 or 9 years. During my freshman year in college my parents agreed to let me get contact lenses. I wore contacts for a long time. But eventually, probably about 20 years later, I realized that I was having trouble reading. So I got a pair of reading glasses for the office. I'd get up before work and put in my contacts. Then, at the office, I'd wear readers for most of the day while working at my desk and computer.

Finally, I couldn't figure out why I was doing that. When my eyes got to the point where I needed another new correction, instead of replacing the contacts I got bifocal glasses. (They were actually progressive lenses so there was no visible line where the reading lenses started.) 

They worked great for me for several years. My vision did keep changing, and I think over the years I ended up with 3 different pairs of bifocals. But somewhere when I was in my late 50s or early 60s, I began having trouble seeing well even with my glasses. I've been seeing an ophthalmologist for many years. Besides being near-sighted, I am regularly evaluated for glaucoma. (My glaucoma screening always comes back normal. But my doctor says that people who are very near-sighted are more susceptible.) Also, a few years ago, after I retired, I had a detached retina and had eye surgery to repair that. During one of my routine appointments, I complained to the doctor about having trouble seeing well even with glasses. She confirmed that I had cataracts.

After cataract surgery

At first, she didn't encourage me to have surgery to remove the cataracts. She explained that with my extreme near-sightedness and the other eye problems, relatively simple cataract surgery would not be so simple for me.

Finally, I prevailed. It seemed like my eyes were getting worse and worse. When walking with my wife, she'd point to things (like a bird high up in a tree) and I couldn't see it. When riding my bike, I couldn't read the street signs until after I'd passed the intersection. While reading, I'd see ghost images that made it difficult to read for an extended length of time. My drivers license expires this coming November. I was worried that I would fail the vision test to get it renewed.

I had hoped to have the surgery done in April so that it wouldn't interfere with summer outdoor activities. But the State of Minnesota put a ban on elective surgeries during the initial response to the COVID pandemic. When the ban was finally lifted in May, I got my surgery scheduled.

The surgery on my right eye was June 2. My doctor was right; the surgery did take longer than usual, and it was more difficult. When I went in the next day for my first post-op exam, I was thrilled that I could see 20-20 out of my right eye! That was exciting. But that wasn't the only surprise.

When I first needed glasses, nearly 60 years ago, I didn't realize how bad my vision was. As the cataracts developed, I did realize that my eyes were getting worse. What I didn't realize was how else the cataracts were affecting my vision. The day after my surgery, I would look outside and alternate covering my left and right eyes. Not only did I see clearly and sharply with my right eye, but the colors were brighter and crisper.

My left eye is scheduled for surgery later in June. In the meantime, I've got one good eye and one not so good. I've resumed wearing a contact lens in my left eye. It gives me good distance viewing. I still have ghost images when reading, but my good eye is compensating, and I see much better even though the left eye still has cataracts.

Of course, I still have to wear reading glasses. But it's worth it.

Empty grocery shelf gives rise to a revelation ... about yeast

When the coronavirus pandemic struck America, and we all retreated to the sanctuary of our homes and practiced social distancing, it seems that a lot of people took up home baking. I've been a baker for a long time, really since I got my first apartment in my sophomore year at the University of Minnesota. That would be in 1972.

I grew up eating homemade bread, so it was natural for me to try my hand at it when I was on my own. I'm sure that my mom gave me bread for the apartment when I'd go home for a visit. But I also started baking some on my own. I liked it. My roommate liked it. And probably more significantly, my girlfriend (now my wife) was impressed.

After college, and when we got married, I continued to make bread for our home. It became a ritual and something of a family tradition. I used to make bagels very often. But since our kids are grown and it's just the two of us, I haven't made bagels in quite a while. I have a handful of recipes that I turn to regularly. But definitely the kind of bread I make the most is challah, almost every Friday when we have a big family dinner with all of the grandchildren.

When the 'stay-at-home' order was issued in Minnesota, to minimize the chance of spreading the coronavirus, my pantry was already well stocked. So I didn't pay too much attention when we saw in the news that many staples and baking supplies were suddenly being snatched from the grocery shelves faster than the stores could restock. But as the pandemic lingered on and we continued to 'shelter at home,' I started running low on some of my supplies. So I asked my wife to try to find some yeast during her regular grocery run.

Finally it got to the point where I didn't have enough yeast left for my weekly batch of challah. When my wife came home from the store, with the news that there still wasn't any yeast on the shelf, it seemed like I was just out of luck.

However, I had read an article online that some people were discovering that their local, independent grocery stores still had products available. You can read the report from CNN (click here) to see why and it seems that it's more prevalent in rural communities. But we have a family-run store (Driskill's Downtown Market) nearby in Hopkins, MN. I gave them a call. Sure enough, they had some yeast available.

When I got to the store, I found out that they didn't have any packets of active dry yeast. Nor did they have 4-ounce bottles of yeast like I usually get. Nor did they have blocks of compressed yeast. (I used to use compressed yeast for challah and bagels for many years until I switched to active dry yeast.) What they did have was a one-pound vacuum-packed brick of instant yeast. I'd never used instant yeast before. But I didn't have much choice. So I bought it and brought it home.

After doing some investigation online. I was reassured that it would work just fine.

• This article on Epicurious does a great job of explaining the difference between active dry and instant yeast and how to substitute one for the other. (Click here.) 
• This article on the King Arthur Flour web site also explains the differences and has photos to show how each type of yeast performs under similar circumstances. (Click here.) 
• My main bread cookbook is Beard on Bread, by James Beard. He was not a fan of instant yeast, and he recommended only using active dry. (The book was first published in 1973. It's still available new in hard cover. I'm quite surprised to see the price on Amazon is $70 new, $45 used, but $12.99 on Kindle.) 
• I also have The Bread Bible by Rose Levy Barenbaum. She is more of a fan of instant yeast and calls for it in most of her recipes, except of course sourdough. 

Since buying the instant yeast, I've made two batches of bread. Both recipes are from Beard on Bread. 

Challah recipe from Beard on Bread

The first was challah. I follow the recipe pretty much as printed in the cookbook except that I use honey as a sweetener and olive oil for the fat. The bread turned out well, as expected and not noticeably different than when I use active dry yeast. (Since we haven't been having family dinners on Friday, because of social-distancing, I make small loaves the deliver them to our kids' families on Friday afternoon.)

The second batch was Beard's French-Style Bread recipe. In the notes, he draws a distinction between this recipe and an authentic French bread. While made in a baguette like French bread, Beard wrote that his recipe is more of a Continental or Italian bread. I've made it often with several variations. This time I used 1 cup of rye flour and 1 cup of whole wheat and the rest unbleached white flour (about 3 more cups). I also kneaded in a tablespoon of caraway seeds. This batch also turned out well.

So my bottom line is that I would buy instant yeast again in the future. I haven't decided yet if I'm willing to say it's my preferred yeast. But I've got a lot more baking to do before I run out again.

Tooting my own horn ... and a recipe

I quit studying French and Italian. My wife and I were planning a trip to France and Italy for this summer. As of today, we still haven't cancelled our reservations. But it seems highly unlikely that the coronavirus pandemic will subside enough for us to safely embark on that trip. We will still go. Just not this summer. Now I have some extra time on my hands. Hmmm. What to do?

Ever since I retired (in 2013) I've thought about retrieving my trumpet from the basement and start playing again. I did play in the school band all through high school and at college in the University of Minnesota Football Marching Band! After the U, I played in an alumni pep band for a few years. But gradually work and family and other things took over my life, and I quit playing.

Spoiler Alert: If you came to this post looking for the recipe, it's at the end. If you want to skip all the blather about my trumpet, just scroll down for the Nutty Oat Bar recipe.

Playing my trumpet has always been on my list of things to do in retirement. But I've been busy with grandchildren and volunteer work and gardening and cooking and biking, and until now, travel. My grandchildren all take piano lessons (from my wife). I've often thought it would be fun to play some easy trumpet and piano duets with them. Also, one of my grandsons took up the clarinet this year. I thought we could play duets too.

I've been at it now for a week. It's been a little humiliating. Don't get me wrong. I didn't expect to pick it up and be back at the level I was in college. (That was more than 45 years ago.) But I've encountered a couple of physical hurdles.

Me in the Marching Band, 1973

One is my eyes. I was planning to have surgery this spring to have my cataracts removed. As is typical with cataracts, my eyesight deteriorated gradually and as it did, I was able to adapt. But that didn't include reading music, and much to my surprise, I'm finding that I'm having trouble with that. With the music set up on a makeshift stand, it's too far away for me to see clearly. I have trouble distinguishing which notes are on the lines and which are on the spaces. If I try to move closer to the music, it's too close to hold my trumpet.

Cataract surgery is elective. In response to the pandemic, all elective surgeries in Minnesota are banned. So no eye surgery for a while yet. (One more thing, barbershops and hair salons are closed. I haven't had a haircut in 2 months. My hair stylist expects to be able to see clients in May. I have an appointment on the calendar. But by the time I get in to see her, my hair might look like it did when I was in college. See photo. Well, it's gray, but at least I still have hair.)

The other physical hurdle I've encountered is that my lip is completely shot. When I picked up my horn again, I could barely play an entire octave. In the week that I've been practicing, I've regained some of my range. But it's slow progress.

Sort of in jest, I told my wife she should see if I become a better kisser as my embouchure strengthens.  She didn't think it was funny. But I was struck by the similarity of the word embouchure to the French word "embrasser" meaning "to kiss." So I looked it up. It was close. Embouchure is actually derived from the French word "bouche" meaning "mouth."

Now, for those of you who have waited patiently, next is the recipe. I've had this in my file since January of 2015. I got it from the Washington Post, and it's still available there. But in order to see it online you have to have a subscription. So I'm reprinting it below.

I expected it to be like a homemade granola bar. I like how it turned out, but I was a little surprised that it wasn't very sweet. The only sweetener in it is maple syrup. The recipe calls for unsweetened applesauce. I suppose if you wanted it to be sweeter, you could try using sweetened applesauce. Also, my son commented that he thought it could use more of the dried cranberries, and that also would add some more sweetness to the end product.

Nutty Oat Bars
Deb Lindsey for The Washington Post
JAN 28, 2015

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup rolled oats (do not use instant or quick-cooking oats)
• 3/4 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1/3 cup plain, unsweetened applesauce
• 1/4 cup canola oil or safflower oil
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup chopped dried cranberries, preferably unsweetened
• 1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup finely chopped, skin-on almonds
• 1/2 cup hulled, unsalted sunflower seeds

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan with cooking oil spray.

Whisk together the oats, whole-wheat flour, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl.

Whisk together the maple syrup, applesauce, oil and egg in a separate bowl until well incorporated. 

Stir in the oat mixture, then the dried cranberries, walnuts, almonds and sunflower seeds until evenly coated.

Spread the mixture in the pan; bake for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely, then cut into 12 equal-size bars.

Flashback to Italy: A delicious wine triggers memories of Montepulciano

In May 2016, we took a really wonderful trip to Italy. We were gone for almost a month. Our itinerary included Milan, Piedmont, Cinque Terra, Umbria, Amalfi Coast, and Rome. We were planning a return trip to Italy this June. That seems quite unlikely now with the coronavirus causing such devastation there.

GATTAVECCHI VERNACCIA

We, of course, are in the midst of social-distancing guidelines and stay-at-home orders. So on Saturday night, we made a special meal and opened a bottle of wine that we had brought back from that remarkable trip four years ago.

Here's the story ...

We were staying at an agriturismo in the tiny little town of Civitella D'agliano outside of Orvietto. The weather wasn't so great. On the last day of our stay the forecast was for rain. We had planned to drive around the region and do some wine tasting. According to the forecast, the weather looked less threatening farther north. My wife suggested we go to Montepulciano. That was a little further than I had wanted to go. But we had time, we had a car, and the weather forecast seemed better. So off we went.

It took about 90 minutes to get there. We found parking on a street below the town square. Honestly, the weather still looked iffy, but we decided to leave the umbrellas in the car. We walked up to the square and started looking around. Then it started to rain. Actually, it was a downpour. We ducked into an "enoteca" along with some other tourists. We tasted a couple of the wines available there, but they weren't anything special.

On my iPhone, I checked TripAdviser to see what other wineries were available nearby. One, called Gattevecchi, had very high ratings. The rain shower passed, and we set out to find the winery. I relied on Google Maps on my phone for directions.

We found the address and went inside. There we encountered an elderly woman with a very stern countenance and who did not speak a word of English. I don't know a lot of Italian, but somehow I figured out that Google had lead us to the business office. The tasting room was on the other side of the town square.

Happy days in Montepulciano

By now, the clouds had started to disperse and the sun started to dry the streets. We found the Gattevecchi cantina, but the tasting room and retail shop seemed to be deserted. We were about to leave when a very friendly woman came rushing to greet us. It turns out that besides the tasting room there's also a restaurant and she had been busy getting guests seated for lunch.

She gave us a quick history of the winery and a tour. And then we started tasting. We liked the wine very much and ended up buying some to bring home. As we chatted with the proprietor, we learned that Total Wine & Spirits carries Gattevecchi wines. Out of curiosity, when we got home I checked the pricing at Total Wine and was surprised to learn that it was almost exactly the same as what we paid at the winery.

The bottles of red wine we drank relatively soon after returning from the trip. But somehow, the bottle of white got overlooked until Saturday when we wanted something special to go with our dinner at home. Our menu was shrimp seared on a grill pan and Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Mushrooms With Gremolata and Quinoa. We had a very pleasant evening savoring the wine with the meal and remembering our rainy-day adventure in Montepulciano.

Social Distancing addendum

In my last post, I wistfully anticipated spring weather when I could get outside to do yard work or gardening or biking. So naturally today is cold and rainy with slushy snow predicted overnight. According to the Farmer's Almanac, spring is supposed to arrive tonight. But it's still March in Minnesota.

The dismal weather today is distressing for two reasons. First, the weather adds to all the other bad news about the pandemic and the economy and just makes it worse. Second, no morning walk and no afternoon walk to get some fresh air. I spent the whole day reading and staring at my computer screen ... and I didn't see anything to cheer me up. In fact, mid-afternoon I began to feel dizzy and clammy and I worried that maybe I was coming down with the coronavirus. I took my temperature, and it's still normal. So I think it was just nerves.

As I wrote in my last post, cooking provides a creative outlet for the tension and is helping keep me from getting totally stir-crazy. Last night for dinner, I made quinoa cakes and roasted Brussels sprouts. It's a dish that I enjoyed in San Francisco last June at the Sparrow in San Francisco. I wrote about it last June. (Click here.)

The night before, I adapted a couple of recipes to use up some leftover rice noodles that we had in the fridge. It turned out so well that I'm going to make a regular part of my repertoire.

My main inspiration was a recipe from Epicurious: Sesame Rice Noodles with Shrimp. That original recipe called for Sriracha. I didn't have any and besides, my wife doesn't like hot spicy sauce like that, so I left it out. The recipe also called for julienne cucumbers. I didn't have cucs, so left them out. And it called for scallions; I substituted thin-sliced onions. But the biggest change I made was the preparation. The original recipe calls for marinating the vegetables and just adding them to the cooked shrimp and noodles. But we wanted a stir fry, so that's what I did.

The final adaptation was how I did the noodles. The original recipe called for adding the cooked shrimp and marinated vegetables to cooked noodles. But I was working with cold, leftover cooked noodles from the fridge. So I added the noodles and the sauce to the stir fry and then mixed them all together with the stir fried shrimp and vegetables.

I didn't try to come up with a creative name for my revised recipe. I settled for a simple descriptive name. Here it is:

Stir fried shrimp and vegetables with rice noodles

An improvised stir fry

INGREDIENTS

• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar, divided
• 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 cup peeled, julienned carrots
• 1 cup julienned radishes
• 1/2 white onion, cut in half vertically and sliced thin
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 lb rice noodles
• 1/2 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1 teaspoon sesame seeds (black or regular)

PREPARATION

Prepare the rice noodles according to package directions. After the noodles have softened, drain and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together soy sauce, 1 tablespoon vinegar, oil, garlic, and honey. In a separate bowl, toss together carrots, radishes, onions, remaining 3 tablespoons vinegar and salt. Let stand 10 minutes, tossing occasionally.

In a wok or large saute pan, heat a tablespoon of olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the marinated vegetables. Stir fry briefly until crisp and tender. Push the veggies to the outside of the pan and add the shrimp. Stir fry until pink and just cooked through. Remove the shrimp and veggies from the pan.

Add the drained noodles to the pan and begin to stir fry. After just a minute, add the sauce. Continue to stir and fry until heated through and noodles are well-coated with sauce. Add the shrimp and veggies. Stir fry and toss until thoroughly combined. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve.

My kitchen has become my social distancing strategy

At first, I didn't think that "social distancing" would be difficult. After all, I'm retired. I don't really have any place I have to go. I've had a few meetings and events get cancelled. I thought it wouldn't be much different than daily life for me.

It's only been three days since the CDC recommended that Americans practice social distancing for eight weeks. The goal is to slow down (and perhaps reduce) the spread of the coronavirus, also called COVID-19. But I'm already sensing this isn't going to be as easy as it sounds. Maybe it's the psychology of it. Knowing that I can't or shouldn't get in the car and drive to a store or to a bar or to a restaurant makes me feel restless.

So far, my daily routine hasn't changed too much. Get up. Take a walk. Have breakfast and read the paper. Read some more. Have lunch. Read some more and/or work on my computer. Take an afternoon walk. Read some more. Make dinner. Watch TV.

I'm going to run out of things to read pretty soon.

Resuming my blog will be part of my strategy for resisting the urge to get out and mingle with the masses.

Fortunately, spring is approaching. And also fortunately, at least in Minnesota, outdoor activities are still allowed. I guess even under a "shelter in place" order (as has been issued in northern California and is contemplated for New York), outdoor recreation is permitted as long as social distancing guidelines are followed. So I'm looking forward to biking and gardening and yard work as soon as the weather permits.

Meanwhile, I've been cooking. On Monday, the first day of the CDC's social distancing recommendation, I made this soup recipe - Winter Vegetable and Barley Soup from the Washington Post. You can try the link, but the Post generally has a paywall and I'm not sure if the link will work after the coronavirus pandemic subsides. If that doesn't work, try this link to the recipe.

Making this soup was a little bit of a process. First of all, I needed to work with ingredients that I already had at home. My wife had gone to the grocery store, and she reported that many items on our weekly shopping list were gone off the shelves. I wasn't going to send her back looking for any specialty ingredients.

I always make my own stock, either a vegetable stock or a turkey stock. Whenever we make turkey, I grill it on my Weber grill. After it's carved, I break down the carcass and freeze it (usually in two batches) to use for making soup stock. So I took out a frozen turkey carcass from the freezer and made the stock. (I use this recipe for Turkey Broth from Epicurious.)

I had two turnips in my refrigerator, left from another recipe that I made this winter. So I was looking for ways to use them. I found the soup recipe from the Washington Post, which also calls for barley. I didn't have barley, but I substituted farro. The farro added a nice, chewy texture, but it doesn't thicken the soup like barley does. The recipe calls for a variety of root vegetables. All I had were the turnips and some carrots. So that's what I used. But some parsnips would have been a nice addition.

The soup really turned out very nicely. My wife and I have been eating it for lunches. The recipe calls for ham. We don't have ham in the house, and personally, I don't particularly like chunks of meat in my soup. But when the turkey broth is done, there's usually some scraps of meat left on the carcass. I pick that off before throwing away the bones. I usually use the turkey scraps for a sandwich or a salad. But my wife put some of the shredded turkey meat in her soup. Because the turkey had been roasted on a grill, the carcass and the turkey scraps had a smokey flavor, so it sort of was like ham.