A good stock is such an important ingredient, especially a vegetable stock. This vegetable stock recipe is truly versatile and so easy to make. There is really no reason to use inferior store-bought veggie stock versions.
Making your own veggie stock can be fun and worth the effort if you have the time. But it does take some of time, often more than many of us have available. This veggie stock recipe is certainly a lot easier than its flesh and bone-based cousins, such as this brown chicken stock or this salmon head stock. Preparation is much easier, and cooking time much shorter. And the result, certainly far superior to what you can buy at the store.
Feel free to swap in/out other vegetables for your veggie stock recipe. Parsnips are great. Pumpkin would work. Add a couple of corn cobs. It is a great way to clean out the vegetable bin in the refrigerator.
I sometimes use an additional step for vegetable stock: roast the onions, garlic, carrots, fennel, and red peppers before adding them to the stockpot. This contributes to delectable Maillard reaction flavours. And to go a step further, smear some miso onto these vegetables before you roast them. Of course, both the roasting and the miso start giving some distinctive character to the stock, which may not be what you want or need. Should the role of the stock be as a base intended to enhance the subtle flavours of what it is used with (such as with this asparagus and spinach soup), then this base vegetable stock recipe is ideal.
Veggie stock recipe
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 20 g butter
- 2 onions
- 8 cloves garlic
- 4 stalks celery
- 4 leeks
- 4 carrots
- 2 fennel bulbs
- 4 peppers 2 red, 2 green
- 200 g mushrooms
- 4 large tomatoes
- 15 cups water
- 2 Tbsp black peppercorns
- 4 bay leaves
- 3 sprigs thyme
- 3 sprigs parsley stalks included
Instructions
- In a large saucepan heat the olive oil over a medium heat, then add the butter.
- Remove any loose skin from the onions and garlic and wash.
- Remove the ends from the onion, then coarsely chop, skins included. Add to the saucepan.
- Smash the garlic with the back of a knife, then add to the saucepan, skins included. Give it a stir.
- Wash the celery stalks, coarsely dice, and add to the saucepan. Give it a stir.
- Wash and trim the leeks, coarsely dice, and add to the saucepan. Give it a stir.
- Wash and trim the fennel bulbs, coarsely dice, and add to the saucepan. Give it a stir.
- Wash and peel the carrots, coarsely dice, and add to the saucepan. Give it a stir.
- Trim the peppers, remove the pith, coarsely chop, and add to the saucepan. Give it a stir.
- Wash the mushrooms, coarsely dice, and add to the saucepan. Give it a stir.
- Continue to stir until the onion, celery and leeks are soft and are starting to brown.
- Add the water to the saucepan, together with the peppercorns, bay leaves, thyme, and parsley.
- Wash and coarsely chop the tomatoes and add to the saucepan.
- Bring to a boil, then reduce to a very slow simmer.
- Simmer for 90 minutes then allow to cool.
- Strain the stock, and when cool enough, keep what you need for the dish you are making today, and freeze the rest in 1 cup quantities.
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