One of the first chapters in my Professional Chef textbook from The Culinary Institute of America is dedicated to stocks, soups and sauces. That’s because these are the fundamentals, and you need them to build upon.
I made this tonight after months of collecting vegetable scraps in my freezer. How beautiful is it?? All from vegetables I had already bought and used for different applications!
There truly is something magical about taking proposed “waste” and repurposing it into something beautiful and useful. Plus, you know what is going into your own stock.There are several ways to make a basic vegetable stock. You can saute or roast the vegetables for a greater depth of flavor, but since I had mushrooms ends in mine; I literally added the water over the vegetables and simmered.
Ingredients
- 5 quarts cold water
- Pinch of kosher salt (3 finger pinch)
- 1-1/2 gallon freezer ziplock bag full of any vegetable scraps. I used (all odds and ends):
- Mushroom
- Garlic
- Onion
- Celery
- Carrot
- Peppers
- Parsnip
- Turnip
- Zucchini
- Parsley
- Thyme
Instructions
- Rinse off all vegetable scraps to ensure there is no dirt and fill a large stock pot with the rinsed vegetables, pinch of salt and water and simmer gently for 30-40 minutes. It should be a nice deep golden brown (especially if using mushrooms)
- Allow to cool. Strain with a fine mesh sieve (colander) and with a gloved hand, squeeze the excess flavor from the vegetables through the sieve before discarding.
- Store in quart containers or mason jars. Freezes perfectly for up to 4-6 months.
[…] Split pea soup is not for everyone; but I personally have always loved it since I was a little girl. Yes, it was condensed out of a can, but I just LOVED it! When I got married in 2010, I started making my own and I haven’t turned back since! It couldn’t be easier and it is even better when you use your own stock. I just made some vegetarian stock here. […]