How can I make vegetable stock at home?!
Answers: We became vegetarians a little over a year ago. I cook with a lot of fresh vegetables and end up throwing away a lot of ends and undesirable parts. How can I use these leftover choppings to make stock? What should I save? Should I use seasonings? What? How?
In any proportions you wish:
Zucchini
Broccoli
Turni ps, peeled
Onions, quartered
Celery, quartered, tops removed
Carrots, peeled and quartered
Garlic cloves
Bay leaf
Fresh herbs, such as stems of parsley, lemon basil, thyme, or rosemary
Black peppercorns (10 or more)
Whole cloves (2 to 5)
Nutmeg, freshly ground
Sweet peppers (green, red and yellow)
10 c. cold bottled spring water or more as needed
1. Place the ingredients in a 4 to 6-quart stockpot. Pour in the cold water, bring to a boil, lower the heat to very low and gently simmer for at least 3 hours. Do not allow the stock to boil or it will turn cloudy. (Some cloudiness cannot be avoided with vegetable stock.) The vegetables should remain covered with water throughout the cooking process.
2. Cool to room temperature and strain through a fine mesh strainer or colander lined with a double layer of dampened cheesecloth. Do not press on the vegetables.
3. Refrigerate for up to 1 week or freeze in small quantities. Do not reduce vegetable stock or it will turn cloudy and bitter.
Makes about 10 cups.
A chef I worked with once used to throw a lot of stuff in a big pot, odds ends etc... then simply let it bubble for days, strain it, then reduce it down. Making stock is very inefficient! It takes ages to come up with something tasty I think.
I'd say if it bothers you, compost them.
Well I am a former chef, and the days of simmering will not get you a better stock, and odds and end are not good enough, onions, carrots, celery, I use mushrooms, garlic, parsley root, leeks and herbs and spices.
And like with a meat stcok roasting the veg, adding tomato paste for flavour and colour, then cooking it for 2-3 hours and straining, you can concentrate the strained volume by cooking down by half. There are some nice canned one's out there here in Canada I buy an organic one, saute some onions brown and add it, thicken it with a cornstarch/flour slurry and use it as a veggie gravy or base sauce.
If you start off with quality ingredients you get a quality result, do not use scraps.
Making a stock is a total waste of time -- I have no idea why people do it. Put the odds and ends in the compost.
Just boil some water, chuck in the ingredients such as potatoes, onion, garlic, veggies -- anything will do. Blend or mash it or leave chunky. Add some sea salt and nutritional yeast -- done.