Vegetable Stock

By karenstl

Ingredients

• vegetable scraps
• peppercorns
• bay leaves

Details

Servings 1
Adapted from futureexpat.com

Preparation

Step 1

The first step in making vegetable stock is to start saving scraps of vegetables. Using a large zip lock freezer bag that you keep in the freezer, add all of the trimmings and peels from your vegetables instead of throwing them into the trash. Just make sure you clean your vegetables before you start peeling…just imagine trying to clean carrot peels!

Add some seasonings. I usually add a tablespoon of whole peppercorns and a couple of bay leaves. I don’t normally add salt since it will get added later in the final recipes and it’s always easy to add more later.

If you have favorite herbs, feel free to add them to the pot too. Or don’t. The vegetables really offer enough flavor.

Bring the stock to a boil and then turn it down to a simmer. Let everything simmer for a couple of hours. I’ve never done this in a crock pot, but I’m sure you could do this in the slow cooker on LOW for 6-8 hours.

When everything is soft and the water is the color of onion soup, put a strainer in a large bowl or another large pot. Pour the stock through the strainer and discard all of the vegetables.

The next step is to freeze the stock so it will last for months. You’ll want to freeze the stock in small portions so you can pull out just what you need. I’ve found that muffin tins give you about a 1/2 cup portion and ice cube trays make roughly 1/4 cup cubes.

I bought a silicon muffin tin since it is really easy to pop out the frozen stock. My red muffin tin has a metal rack that it sits on for support in the oven, but my current freezer doesn’t have a compartment big enough to hold it on the rack. So, I put the muffin tin in the bottom of the freezer before filling it and then use a measuring cup to fill the tins…or just carefully pour the stock directly from a large bowl.

Toss everything into a new freezer bag (the old one goes back in the freezer to start saving scraps for the next batch). The next time you are cooking soup or risotto, just pull out your best guess at how much you will need, then heat it in a small pot or in the microwave until melted.