I got the idea for this stock after chopping a truckload of vegetables to go into a beef stew. I had so many scraps it really seemed a shame to bin them all.
So I googled a bit and came up with the idea to make a stock out of them! You can virtually put anything in this that's a vegetable - I had the ends of carrots and onions, celery stalks and various peelings.
Essentially, I just put all the vegetable scraps into some water and brought it up to the boil. I didn't add any salt because I prefer to add it when I'm cooking a meal.
I skimmed the scum that rises to the top after a few minutes and then left it to simmer for about an hour or two.
Then I strained the whole lot with a fine sieve twice, to make sure I got out all the solids. THEN I binned the leftover veges!
The remaining stock was a lovely dark colour. I froze it flat in a sandwich zip-lock bag for use in a future cooking endeavor! It made about two cups.
Do you ever make your own stock? What kind and how often?
Hi, I'm Sarah! I'm 33 and searching for my passion.
Until then, I slog away in a cubicle working full-time and focus on enjoying my downtime with things like TV (my old friend), movies, twitter, (trying to) cook, reading and hanging out with my hubby. My head is turned by things like vintage homewares, stationery, chocolate and scrapbooking. I blog about whatever takes my fancy.
That stock is an amazing colour! Must be those carrot peelings. Great work. I've read about people who even freeze their veges peelings until that have a good amount and then make up a large quantity of stock. I've done that before but the only trouble is, you then have to find room in the freezer for all of the stock!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I did get a good colour, must be the carrots! Freezing vege leftovers is a great idea too, but when freezer space is at a premium perhaps not always practical! But I found you don't need a great deal of actual veges to make a small stock, perhaps smaller batches are do-able for those without a giant freezer!
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