On a whim for New Year’s Eve dinner I decided I was going to roast a whole duck.  It was much easier than I thought it would be; much like a turkey but less time and I went with Asian spices: lemongrass, ginger, garlic and spring onion.  As with most large pieces of meat there were a lot of left overs and my husband and I don’t tend to eat the same meal over and over again before it spoils.  I decided I was going to use all the left overs to create a recipe similar to my Mom’s recipe for Chicken Noodle Soup. So some of the credit for this recipe should go to her.  This is what I did:

For the duck stock:

• 2-3 celery stalks with flowers
• duck carcass

After we were done eating I took the left over duck carcass and covered it with water in a large stock pot and added a few stalks of celery with flowers and brought it to a boil and then let it simmer on the stove for about 2 hours.  It is done when all of the meat has fallen off of the carcass and it is has generally smaller pieces of meat and bone.  Strain and save the liquid.  Look through the strained pieces and throw away fatty pieces of meat, bone and celery.  Put the good pieces of meat back into the duck stock.  Refrigerate until you are ready to make the soup.

For Duck Noodle Soup:

• 3-5 carrots chopped
• 3-5 celery stalks chopped
• onion chopped
• 2 inches fresh ginger grated (or to taste)
• 2-4 garlic cloves finely chopped
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 small packages of frozen egg noodles (or 1 large package)
• Previously made duck stock

Skim the fat off of the top of the refrigerated duck stock.  Add carrots, celery, onion, ginger, and garlic and bring to a boil and let simmer for about an hour, up to 2 hours.  If you let it simmer longer the flavors meld together and it tastes better.  When the vegetables are soft taste the stock and add salt and pepper to taste and egg noodles.  Cook the egg noodles according the package directions.

This recipe makes A LOT of soup.  I froze half of it.  It tends to taste better after it has been refrigerated over night but it is good the same day as well.

-Callie Ham