Veggie stock
Samin Nosrat, the author of Salt Fat Acid Heat, says that unless you make your own stock, don't bother with store-bought stock, and just use water. To make chicken broth or beef broth can take hours but veggie stock takes merely 25 minutes and it is one more step towards reducing our waste. After making our own stock at home, we couldn't agree more with Samin. Making stock at home, will transform any dish into a more rich and flavourful meal. Everything suddenly tastes ten times better (and is nutrient-packed).
We regularly keep aside in the fridge vegetable peels, ends, stalks, leaves, and scraps. For example carrot peels and ends or mushroom stalks. And usually have enough to make a new batch of veggie stock every ten days.
Onions, garlic, carrots, and celery are the key ingredients in vegetable stock, but many other vegetables can add depth and flavour. Usually I also have scraps from potato, spring onions, shallots, mushroom stalks, fennel, zucchini, pumpkin, capsicum, parsley... you get the picture.
As a general rule of thumb, vegetables to avoid are from the brassica family, which are too strong for stock and can impart a bitter taste. For example, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, turnips, swedes, and artichokes. Do not add tomatoes, or your stock will become a tomato stock. I also suggest to avoid beetroots, unless you want your stock purple. If I am not sure which veggies I should use, I reference this article.
I put all the kept vegetables in a big pot and top with water. Depending on what vegetables are in, I will sometimes add some seasonings. For example, if I don't have fennel bits, I will add fennel seeds. If I don't have coriander leaves or roots, I will add coriander seeds. If I don't have celery, I will add celery seeds. You get the picture, right? I generally always add some cumin seeds, and never add salt or pepper.
Next thing is to bring the water to boil, then reduce the heat, and simmer for 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally. You will notice that the water turns dark colour, not like the veggie stock cubes that you get from the shop. After 25-30 minutes, I remove the stock from the heat and let it cool. I then strain the liquid from the vegetables, transfer the liquid to small plastic one-cup containers, and store in the freezer. If keeping the stock in the fridge, you should use it within one week, but it will keep longer in the freezer. And having the stock in ready to use cup sizes makes it easier to grab a couple of cups of stock when a recipe asks for it. Sometimes when recipes ask for a cup of water, we add a cup of stock instead, especially when making soups or stews.
If cooking stock from scratch, you can use garlic, onion, carrot, celery, and potato, all chopped roughly for your stock. In that case, after you strain the veggies, you can fry them up in a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper to eat and enjoy!
All this stock making adventure started with one instagram post by Kim Lam of a friend's illustration of what scraps can go into a veggie stock from the Green Apartment Project (see below).
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Here are this week’s recipe suggestions for you to try:
Broccoli and Brussels sprouts orecchiette — which we did one week, and then again the following week for our friends Tim, Carla, and bub.
Quick & Easy chicken cabbage stir fry — by our friend Irena Macri.
Curried beetroot soup with tandoori chickpeas — very different colour to our usual soups, ready in 30 minutes
Blueberry-spinach shake: banana, baby spinach, frozen blueberries, flaxseeds, and milk of your choice
Green eggs and bacon — which immediately invokes Dr Seuss references obvs. This is a super simple toddlers snack and a good introduction to spinach and green foods.
- 3 rashes of low-fat bacon
- 1/2 cup of baby spinach leaves
- 4 eggs
- Olive oil
- Salt, to taste
How to?
Fry the bacon in a frypan (or bake in the oven) until just crisp. Dry on paper towels and chop into small bits.
Preheat oven to 180c. Oil a 12 cups mini muffin tray. Divide the bacon bits between the muffin cups.
In a blender, process the spinach leaves, eggs, and salt. Then divide evenly among the muffin cups.
Bake for 12 minutes or until the eggs are set and puffed. Cool for 5 minutes. Serve warm and enjoy!
Our meal plan from last week can be found at: https://foodfamily.app/public/meal_plans/95947d96-510f-4de5-8d4d-39d1b8b412b5
Once again, please let us know if you make any of these recipes, how you found them, what you changed, or just drop us an email to say hi.
Thanks and see you next week,
Elle, Lachlan, M, Ginger, and Edward