We learned about making homemade vegetable stock in a previous Healthy Cooking Class, but I was inspired to share these pictures again. I have a freezer bag that I just keep stocking with discarded vegetable parts; once the bag is pretty full (and/or there is a weather-related day off!) I pull it out and make some delicious homemade vegetable stock. This is a great base for winter soup, or to use for cooking grains, beans, or lentils. Enjoy!
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| This is an 8 qt pan, about 2/3 full - enough water just to cover the frozen veggies. |
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| "Two large pinches" of whatever herbs - I put rosemary, bay leaf and celery seed in this time, plus a fresh carrot and bit of onion that I had left. |
I typically wait about 30-40 minutes of boiling before tasting to salt. Crushed red pepper/chile would be a good thing to add with herbs, too.
I got carried away in the process and forgot to take a picture of the straining! But the after-shot (below) gives you an idea of the method: cheesecloth folded in half, over pasta strainer. I strained it right into the pot I was going to use to make rice, but then transferred it to measuring bowl to see how much I had.
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| I had already strained/emptied the veggies for this picture - but at least you can see the materials I used! (P.S. the leftover hot veggies are great for a compost pile!) |
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| The deep auburn of this stock illustrates the flavor! |
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| 5.25 cups of stock from otherwise discarded vegetable 'scraps.' Pretty good deal! |
