Recipe: Cranberry turkey cream soup from Sweet Tomatoes

A: The folks at Sweet Tomatoes restaurants have always been generous about sharing their soup recipes. There are more than 120 salad buffet-style restaurants across the United States, (they're called Souplantation in southern California) with four here in the Atlanta area. Their daily selection of made-from-scratch soups, salads and muffins rotates throughout the year.

This Creamy Herbed Turkey Soup is perfect for using up your own Thanksgiving leftovers.

Soup bases are concentrated stock and can be found in the soup section of your grocery store. If you cannot find turkey base, substitute the more widely available chicken base.

Don’t be put off by the large quantity this recipe makes. Serve some tonight, and any leftover soup will freeze very successfully. You could also cut the recipe in half.

Is there a recipe from a metro Atlanta restaurant you’d like to make at home? Tell us and we’ll try to get it. We’ll also test it and adapt it for the home kitchen. Because of volume, we can’t answer all inquiries. Send your request, your address and phone number to fromthemenu@gmail.com and put “From the menu of” and the name of restaurant in the subject line.

Sweet Tomatoes’ Creamy Herbed Turkey Soup

Hands on: 30 minutes

Total time: 1 hour

Makes: 20 cups

22 cups water, divided

2 1/2 cups 1/4-inch diced carrot, divided

2 1/2 cups 1/4-inch diced celery, divided

1/2 pound unsalted butter

2 cups 1/4-inch diced onion

2 tablespoons minced garlic

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

5 tablespoons turkey base

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 1/4 teaspoons black pepper

1 teaspoon dried sage

1 teaspoon dried marjoram

1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1 pound roasted turkey breast, cut into bite-size pieces

2 cups cream

1/2 cup chopped Italian parsley

1/3 cup diced dried cranberries

In a large saucepan, bring 8 cups water to a boil and add 1 1/2 cups carrot and 1 1/2 cups celery. Cook 8 minutes, then strain out vegetables and cool in cold water. When cool, drain and set aside. Discard cooking water.

In a large stockpot, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion, remaining 1 cup celery, remaining 1 cup carrot and garlic. Saute for 5 minutes. Lower heat to medium-low, stir in flour and cook 5 minutes more, stirring occasionally. Stir in 8 cups water and turkey base until well mixed. Use an immersion blender and puree soup.

Add remaining 6 cups water, salt, pepper, sage, marjoram, rosemary and thyme. Bring soup to a low simmer and cook for 10 minutes or until soup thickens. Stir in roasted turkey, cream, parsley, cranberries and reserved carrots and celery. Heat for 2 minutes or until everything is heated through and serve.

Per 1-cup serving: 277 calories (percent of calories from fat, 67), 7 grams protein, 10 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram fiber, 17 grams fat (10 grams saturated), 59 milligrams cholesterol, 462 milligrams sodium.