Vegetable Stock
Oct 26th, 2007 by Andrea | Print This Post
Vegetable stock is a staple around our house because it forms the basis for many of the soups we make, and I swap vegetable stock for chicken stock in almost anything. Most of the time I can make vegetable stock from ingredients that I have on hand, though occasionally I’ll have to buy some leeks to go into it since I tend to use those up rather quickly.
Because I stick with whatever is in the vegetable bin, the flavor of my stock changes a little each time, but I have a list of basic ingredients that almost always go in the pot. I happened to be out of parsley when I made this batch and my kitchen garden stash of parsley recently bit the dust, so none went into the pot this time, but parsley is definitely one of the regular herbs in my stock.
Making stock is very simple, you just clean and chunk some vegetables or use leftover vegetable scraps from the week, add some herbs and peppercorns, put it all in a pot and cover with water, then bring to a boil and simmer for about an hour. Strain and keep in the refrigerator or freezer. To keep the herbs and peppercorns all together in the pot, you can even make a little bag out of cheesecloth and kitchen twine. Some people recommend pressing the cooked vegetables to extract more flavor, and I do that quite often, however if you prefer a very clear stock for certain dishes, you may want to avoid pressing because I’ve noticed that pressing tends to cloud and even darken the stock a bit.
So this post is not quite a recipe, but more of a list of ideas for ingredients. It is also my contribution to Kalyn’s Weekend Herb Blogging event, which is celebrating it’s second birthday! Congratulations to Kalyn for two great years, and thanks to Pille of Nami Nami for hosting this week. Be sure to check out Pille’s lovely blog when she posts the round-up on October 29!
Equipment
1 (8-quart) pot with a lid
Ingredients
2 onions, peeled and quartered
1 bulb garlic, peeled
2 leeks, white and lite green parts only, scrubbed clean, cut into large chunks
2 carrots, scrubbed clean, cut into large chunks
2 stalks celery, cleaned, cut into large chunks (leaves optional)
2 potatoes, scrubbed clean, quartered (The starch adds a little richness.)
1 tablespoon mixed peppercorns
2 bay leaves
sprigs of thyme
sprigs of parsley
Preparation
1. Prepare all of the ingredients and put into the bottom of an 8-quart pot. Add water to cover, until the ingredients start to float.
2. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 1 hour. Strain out the vegetables and herbs, then refrigerate or freeze the stock in 16 or 32 ounce containers.
Other Ingredients To Add
2 dried porcini mushrooms
2 lemon zest strips
1 medium turnip, scrubbed and quartered
10 green beans, cleaned and cut into large pieces
2 or 3 medium tomatoes (adds strong flavor and color)
5 or 6 chives
2 or 3 lettuce leaves
1 apple or pear, scrubbed and quartered
4 cloves
2 cinnamon sticks
1 sweet potato, scrubbed and quartered
2 to 3 large slices of ginger (great for an Asian-style stock)
Other Recipes for Vegetable Stock
Cream Puffs in Venice - Taking Stock
MarthaStewart.com - Andy’s Vegetable Stock
Care2.com - How to Make a Perfect Vegetable Stock
AllRecipes.com - Making Vegetable Stock
VideoJug.com - How to Make Vegetable Stock (video)
Resources
What a great idea to add leeks. I never thought of that before! I love to make stock; to me it just feels like getting free food!
This looks great to me, that would go well with a risotto huh?
Andrea, this looks like an excellent veggie stock recipe. I’ve only made chicken stock, so will try it using your recipe. That is a gorgeous photo, too.
I like the idea of adding porcini, apples or cloves. That would make for some great flavor combinations.
Thanks everyone!! I just realized that I forgot to add ginger slices in the Other Ingredients list, which makes a nice addition for an Asian-flavored stock.
Cris: You crack me up! Chef Gray’s stock was very clear, like a white wine, so I would have to leave out a few ingredients to achieve that. But it was tasty in that risotto… Yum!
Andrea - thank you for your WHB entry! I’ve only recently started making my own stock, and there really is such a flavour difference. This is very helpful.
Thanks for the detailed instructions. I think even a non-cook like me could do this!
What a great post. I love making vege stocks, and will make Asian inspired ones and Indian inspired ones as well. Keeping them in the freezer is just the thing for soups, risottos and paellas. I have never thought of using apple before. Must try it.
I just started checking out your food blog, and I like what I see! I wanted to comment on making veggie broth. A couple months ago, I started saving all of my vegetable scraps (onion ends, carrot and potato peelings, etc) and freezing them together. Then I’ll use those as the basis for making stock along with some dried mushrooms and spices. I used to just add everything to the compost pile, but feel that I’m getting even more bang for my buck this way. The batches do vary, but I tend to cook a large variety of vegetables, so no one flavor is overpowering. Except maybe carrot… heh.
I would like to know why one would add apples or pears to a Stock. Could you please tell me the reason.
Thank you
Thanks for asking, Donna. Apple and pear add a slight touch of sweetness which is really nice in some soups, such as pumpkin or squash.
thank you so very much andrea! i really loved your idea since it was really simple and it turned out ot be fine! again thank you!