How to Make Vegetable Stock
Before you throw out those wilted vegetables when cleaning out your refrigerator, you may want to try making a batch of vegetable stock. You can use it for making vegetarian soups and stews or how about just substituting beef or chicken stock.
And if you don’t use it right away, veggie stock freezes nicely. Just be sure to freeze it in one of those airtight plastic containers you get after ordering out take out foods.
I like to use homemade vegetable stock instead of water when making rice or risotto. It adds an additional layer of flavor that won’t overwhelm any dish I’m serving the rice with.
Water dilutes flavor which is fine for some dishes, but vegetable stock can add flavor to soups and sauces even if it is just a subtle layer.
Is Vegetable Stock Really a Stock?
I’m going to say no. I should be calling it a broth and not a stock. A stock by definition is made from beef, chicken or fish bones by slowly simmering them to extricate the collagen.
Since vegetables have no bones nor collagen, it’s not really a stock.
But who cares? Everyone calls it vegetable stock and not vegetable broth, so I will too.
Vegetable Stock Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 onion roughly chopped
- 2 carrots peeled and roughly chopped
- 2 leeks cleaned and roughly chopped
- 2 stalks celery roughly chopped
- 1 turnip peeled and roughly chopped
- 1 parsnip peeled and roughly chopped
- ½ pound mushrooms sliced in half
- 1 Sachet d'Epices
- 10 cups water cold
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed 6 quart stockpot over medium high heat.
- Add the onion, carrots, leeks, celery, turnip, parsnip and mushrooms, and cook for 5 minutes.
- Add the Sachet d'Epices and water.
- Bring to a boil and quickly reduce heat to a simmer. Cook uncovered for 30 minutes, skimming the top as necessary.
- Strain the stock through a colander to remove the large solids. Restrain through cheesecloth to remove the fine particulates.
- Cool, and store the stock as described in the introduction.
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