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This evening, after I finished with my work for the day, I decided to entertain myself by making a nice big pot of vegetable stock. My 12-cup capacity Rubbermaid container, which I keep in the freezer and stuff with suitable vegetable trimmings as I generate them, was full; we were getting take-out Thai as a treat, so there was plenty of free space on the stovetop; and after a long day of research I like to have a soothing and uncomplicated manual task to do. Thus, a perfect time for stock making.
Stock is very straightforward to make if you make a habit of storing up nice trimmings in the freezer. And unlike chicken, beef, or veal stock, vegetable stock takes only an hour or so to make. All you have to do is sauté a coarsely chopped onion, a clean but unpeeled chopped carrot, and some peeled garlic cloves in a tablespoon or so of nice olive oil. Then dump in your vegetables and a pinch or two of your favorite herbs (I like to use thyme). A couple of bay leaves would not go amiss, either. Add your salt (2 teaspoons will do) now. (See my remarks about salting early in the cooking process.)
Cook that all up until the trimmings thaw, plus about five minutes more. Then add 8 cups of water, bring to the boil, lower the heat, and simmer for 30-40 minutes. If you're used to making meat stocks, you will not believe that your stock could possibly be done already. But it is, it is! Strain it and admire the rich, vegetably liquid goodness.
My most recent batch of trimmings had quite a lot of sweet potato peelings, which gave the stock a nice, sweet depth. Most vegetables work well in stocks--lettuce, for example, which you might think is too mild and dull to do anything, is actually great--but there are a few things you should avoid. No onion skins, alas. Also avoid cabbages, brussels sprouts, turnips, artichoke, broccoli, and cauliflower. Beets will make your soup bright pink and very beety; only use them if you are going to be making beet soup. Finally, don't put in too many strong-tasting greens--more than a few cups is too much. Deborah Madison recommends adding lentils or nutritional yeast for greater depth; I've never tried either, but I'd bet she's right. She usually is.
Posted by redfox at May 15, 2002 08:44 PM (recipes)all breads | breakfast | dinner reports | drink | eating out | essays | etcetera | lunch | news | recipes | salads | snacks | soups | sweets | tips | travel | vegetables | weekly meals |
