Vegetable Stock
Other veggies, such as fennel, ginger, parsnips, herbs, and so on, may be substituted for any of the ingredients. This is a very changeable recipe, open to personalization.
INGREDIENTS | YIELDS about 4 cups
- 1 onion, sliced
- 1 leek, white part only, cleaned thoroughly and sliced
- 1 carrot, peeled and sliced
- 2 stalks celery, roughly chopped
- 1 turnip, peeled and sliced
- 5 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
- 6 cups cold water
- Small bunch of parsley stems
- 10 black peppercorns
- 8 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- Salt and pepper (optional)
Combine all ingredients in a large stock pot. Simmer 1 hour; strain.
Season with salt and pepper, if desired; cool. Keeps refrigerated for 1 week. Freezes well.
Taking Stock
Adventurous cooks who get into diverse cuisines look to broths that provide an appropriate palette on which to build their dishes. By adding one or two ingredients to the basic Vegetable Stock recipe, you can make many stocks with the one recipe. For Chinese stock, add one thinly sliced two-inch piece of fresh ginger, and two sliced garlic cloves (additional to the original five the recipe calls for). For Vietnamese stock, add one star anise and one chopped stalk of lemongrass (or ¼ cup dried). When making stocks for Mexican foods, add one ancho chili pod and one cinnamon stick. For Middle Eastern dishes, a stock with zest of one lemon adds another dimension.
