Month: January 2011

A good friend of mine who is also a vegetarian often said “Why do you eat meat, all of the good flavor comes from the vegetables anyway”.  Though I don’t fully agree with that, I do agree that there are a lot of deep robust flavors in vegetables that make a rich flavorful stock.  When selecting vegetables for your stock you want to use aromatic vegetables and pay attention to the flavors that they bring.  You want a nice balance of flavors selecting sweet vegetables like carrots, sweet potatoes; aromatics like onion and celery as well as spicy flavors like those of ginger and garlic.  Be careful of recipes that just throw a bunch of veggies into a pot and boil, I avoid tomatoes and potatoes because they will cloud the stock and tomatoes can dominate the stock.  Other vegetables such as mushrooms, cauliflower, spinach and corn add little to the stock and are best used in the main dish you are preparing.

Here is my winter vegetable stock recipe.  This stock will add rich flavor to soups, stews or rice.  This along with my Chicken and Beef Stock will freeze well and having a good stock on hand will simplify your meal preparation.

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp good olive oil

1 Large white onion – peeled and chopped

3 Stalks of celery – rough chopped, bitter white ends removed

3 large carrots – cleaned and rough chopped

2 large parsnips – cleaned and rough chopped

1 bulb of garlic – pealed and crushed

½ cup white wine

1 large sweet potato – cleaned and rough chopped

1 2 inch piece of ginger peeled and sliced into 4 or 5 pieces

1 small bunch fresh thyme

2 sprig fresh rosemary

10 whole black pepper corns

6 Allspice Berries

4 cloves of ginger

2 tsp balsamic vinegar

3 tsp of salt

As with any other stock you need to build the flavors and then infuse the broth with them.  Heat up the olive oil in a 6 L stock pot over medium heat.  Add in chopped onion, celery carrots and parsnips and 1 tsp of salt.  Stir these until the onion starts to brown and then add in the garlic and cook for about 5 more minutes.  Deglaze the pan with the white wine and add in the rest of the vegetables, herbs and spices.  This process will build flavor by caramelizing the aromatics and then transfer them to the stock through the white wine.

Now Fill the stock pot with water and simmer (heat just below the boil) for 4 to 6 hours.  This slow infusion of flavors will build a nice stock.  When this is completed add the balsamic vinegar and then salt to taste.  Strain the stock and allow to cool.  You can use this stock as is or freeze for later use.  Will be posting a Butternut squash soup using this stocks as soon as I have a change to perfect it.