A warming trend....

You need a good vegetable stock recipe.

See that?  Yumminess.  Trust me on this.

This is made in a crock pot and is simple.  There is no micro-dicing.  There are no fancy ingredients and the result is delectable.

I promise it is simple.  

3 - 4 carrots, washed and cut in large chunks
4 - 5 celery stalks, washed  and cut in large chunks.

The number will depend on the size of each of these.  What I had on hand was fairly large. Be sure to chop them. I suppose you could do this with them whole, but unless you have a long strainer the steps ahead may be difficult or cumbersome.

 1- 2 turnips, washed and chopped in large segments
1-2 rutabaga, washed and chopped in large segments
Again, if you have small turnips and rutabagas then get 2.
No turnips or rutabagas in the market?  Grab 4 parsnips and 1 medium sized head of fennel instead.

1 large yellow onion, peeled and chopped in large segments

1 head of garlic, cut in half so that all of the cloves are exposed
1 bunch of parsley, rinsed
Now do not scoff at that picture.  I had neither of these ingredients available to me, but what I did do was use what was on hand. Many home cooks do this. The old adage "Waste no, want not" is common in our home.  What you see here are frozen garlic cloves and frozen parsley oil.
We freeze garlic when it is about to go bad and the parsley oil is made in the food processor.  It changes nothing, but the flavor of the olive oil is infused in the stock.
YUMMY!!

1 Tbsp of kosher salt

8 whole black peppercorns

Place all of this in your crockpot.

Cover the entire thing with purified water.  

Then place the cover of the crock pot, set the cook setting to low, and let it cook overnight.  

The next morning, you will find this and, along with it, your home will smell glorious.  My husband loves stock night because he wakes to what he refers to as, "the smell of fall." Do not be afraid of this photo.  If you do not use parsley cubes you will not have this but a light, amber liquid.

You will need to strain the stock into a large bowl.  Place all of those veggies into your compost pile.

Transfer the stock into a seal container or cover the bowl with plastic wrap.  You choose!  Let the stock cool for 2 hours on the countertop or in the fridge if you have places to be.  

When you get home place cheese cloth over a fine mesh strainer and strain once more into another, clean container with an air tight lid.

You can skip this step if you did not use parsley oil cubes or do this if you want a more clear color for your stock

I recommend it no matter what.

Now we use all of this in a week, but when we do not we do the following...

Place it in quart freezer bags, lay them flat on a sheet tray, place in the freezer and them it freeze for 4 hours.  Then remove the sheet tray from the freezer and stack your stock!

If you want chicken stock instead, remove the rutabaga and turnip and add a few chicken wings.  or you can add a chicken carcass from the last time you roasted a chicken. Follow the same method.

When it is done you will have a rich and deeply colored stock.  Taste it and make sure to salt it some more if you need to.  I am not big on salt when it comes to stock because we use it in so many ways and salt the other ingredients.  However, you may want it to have a little more salt in this.


Some ideas for using your stock:
1. Use it to make Spanish rice instead of water.  Do this and then send me a thank you note.

2. Use anywhere you would use chicken stock. We are all trying to eat a little more healthy.  Even in chicken noodle soup this stock offers a wonderful flavor.  We like it better this way.

3. Replace part of the cream in your mashed potatoes with this stock.  I do this all the time.  DO NOT tell my husband!

4. When you make beans in the crockpot mix this with the water.  Use a 50-50 ratio and let it simmer away all day.  Add one chopped onion, garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste.

Now go make some of your own and let me know how it goes!