You know how, after Thanksgiving, everyone says you should just use the carcass of the roast turkey to make soup? I tried that, several times, and it never came out right — it was always thin in body and flavor. Then I read a Cook’s Illustrated article about roast turkey stock and realized that my habit of picking off all the meat from the bones for other uses, in what I like to think of as a frontier-like spirit of economy, was ruining my stock. Meat, even if it’s already cooked, equals flavor. I didn’t roast the turkey this year, but I inherited the carcass, and I made sure to request plenty of meat on them bones. This time, the aroma of simmering stock was absolutely delicious. I’ve had to learn, with chicken stock, not to use too much water — you just want to cover the meat, with maybe an inch above it. But this isn’t such a problem with turkey. You may have to mash the carcass a bit to get it all into the pot, but that’s okay — you want the gelatin from the bones, too.

I’m not even going to give a recipe for turkey stock; that’s not where this is going. Because although I’ve read a zillion recipes calling for bouquets of herbs and handfuls of root vegetables, those are just extras. Mexicans, for example, like to keep it simple — just an onion and a couple of carrots. If you want to go Chinese, just throw in some garlic and ginger, maybe a couple of scallions; for a vaguely European stock, you can add on a couple of bay leaves, some sprigs of parsley, parsnips, and leek tops (I freeze and save them when I use the white leek bottoms).

I recently discovered a great neighborhood Italian restaurant, Bella Roma, with some friends who are lucky enough to live around the corner. I’ve been trying to work my way through their pasta menu (starting with the tender and delicate housemade tagliatelle), but on that first visit, I started with stracciatella. This is often described as the “Italian egg drop soup,” kind of a turn-off for me because the egg drop soup you often get in Chinese restaurants reminds me of snot… and the flavor doesn’t make up for its appearance and texture. It was wonderfully pure, tinged with citrus, and had bright shards of spinach and the tender beaten egg, topped with Parmesan.

What better way to use my new turkey stock? As I googled for recipes, I found that most of them called for a bit of semolina or pasta for thickening. But I wanted something as light and simple as what I’d had at Bella Roma. And it turned out to be incredibly simple, no sauteeing or anything. A touch of lemon zest kept it fresh, and beating the egg with some cold broth ensured they were fluffy, not like a breakfast side at a diner.

Stracciatella
Serves 2

3 cups turkey or chicken broth
1 egg
1 1/2 cups baby spinach, sliced into strips
1 tsp lemon zest
4 TB grated Parmesan

Beat the egg with about a quarter cup of the cold broth and set aside. Bring the rest of the broth to a gentle boil and drop in the spinach. Cook briefly, until it turns bright green, and then add the egg mixture and lemon zest. Stir gently until the egg cooks — it’ll turn solid and rise to the top. Top each bowl with 2 TB grated Parmesan.