First, for the four or so readers of this blog I apologize for the delay between posts. Still getting the hang of this thing, but I do promise to get better about posting more often.
Moving on: the title of today's blog post is our household motto. I hate wasting any sort of food - hate it when food goes bad and we have to throw it away. So while trying to think of ways to save money and to avoid wasting food, I realized that we could start making our own vegetable stock. Even Steve was skeptical at first, but after realizing there was nothing to lose in trying it out, he became a veggie stock convert. We've previously made chicken stock before (which I'll post about soon enough), but veggie stock is the perfect example of no waste. So what do you use for veggie stock? I made it this weekend while visiting some of my favorite people in Boston. While cooking the stock it started being called garbage soup. While that's not really an appetizing or totally correct name, it worked. The whole idea of making this stock is to use up veggies that are about to turn bad or get thrown away, and to use up the waste ends of veggies after you've used them for whatever other dish you've made (think carrot peels, garlic skins, onion ends). The result? Delicious homemade stock that you can use for anything you want. To add more flavor in my day to day cooking I use stock in place of water in almost everything - when making rice, quinoa, soup, couscous, etc.
So how do you go about making veggie stock? What I do is keep a gallon zip lock bag in the freezer. Here's what it looks like:
Don't mind the freezer burn. It's okay. On Sundays when I do the majority of my big cooking, I take the bag out of the freezer and put my food waste/extras in there. During the week as I cook and have anything that can go in there, I pull the bag out and throw whatever I have in there. I make veggie stock every weekend or every other weekend - depends on the amount of veggies I have in the bag.
Many veggies are good to use in stock, but there are some that aren't so great, so here's a list of both.
Good for stock:
- onion ends/ peelings (skins too) - any left over herbs/ herb stems
- garlic ends/ peelings (skins too) - fennel
- carrot ends/ peelings - mushroom stalks
- celery - broccoli stems
- asparagus stalks
Bad for stock:
- potatoes - cucumbers
- beets - kale
- broccoli rabe
As you can see you can use pretty much any leftovers in your stock. On the "bad" list I put kale and broccoli rabe because they would be too bitter in the stock. You also don't want any veggie thats too watery like cucumbers, or something that will take over the stock completely, like beets.
Directions:
Heat up a large pot and add olive oil to the bottom. Once that heats up, dump whatever you have in your freezer bag into the pot. Sauté the veggies for a few minutes - you want them to start thawing and to start to brown a little bit. Once everything has been cooking for about ten minutes, cover the veggies with enough water to cover them with a few inches of water. Add about 2-3 bay leafs, 6-10 peppercorns and a handful of salt. Bring the stock up to a boil and then reduce it to a simmer. Partially cover the pot and let it simmer for at least 2 hours, but as long as you have ideally, up to 4-5 hours.
Strain the stock through a fine mesh sieve into a large bowl. Divide the stock into 2 cup containers and completely cool before storing. Depending on what I'm making, I keep whatever stock I'll be using within a few days in the fridge, and leave the rest in the freezer.
That's it!
Moving on: the title of today's blog post is our household motto. I hate wasting any sort of food - hate it when food goes bad and we have to throw it away. So while trying to think of ways to save money and to avoid wasting food, I realized that we could start making our own vegetable stock. Even Steve was skeptical at first, but after realizing there was nothing to lose in trying it out, he became a veggie stock convert. We've previously made chicken stock before (which I'll post about soon enough), but veggie stock is the perfect example of no waste. So what do you use for veggie stock? I made it this weekend while visiting some of my favorite people in Boston. While cooking the stock it started being called garbage soup. While that's not really an appetizing or totally correct name, it worked. The whole idea of making this stock is to use up veggies that are about to turn bad or get thrown away, and to use up the waste ends of veggies after you've used them for whatever other dish you've made (think carrot peels, garlic skins, onion ends). The result? Delicious homemade stock that you can use for anything you want. To add more flavor in my day to day cooking I use stock in place of water in almost everything - when making rice, quinoa, soup, couscous, etc.
So how do you go about making veggie stock? What I do is keep a gallon zip lock bag in the freezer. Here's what it looks like:
Don't mind the freezer burn. It's okay. On Sundays when I do the majority of my big cooking, I take the bag out of the freezer and put my food waste/extras in there. During the week as I cook and have anything that can go in there, I pull the bag out and throw whatever I have in there. I make veggie stock every weekend or every other weekend - depends on the amount of veggies I have in the bag.
Many veggies are good to use in stock, but there are some that aren't so great, so here's a list of both.
Good for stock:
- onion ends/ peelings (skins too) - any left over herbs/ herb stems
- garlic ends/ peelings (skins too) - fennel
- carrot ends/ peelings - mushroom stalks
- celery - broccoli stems
- asparagus stalks
Bad for stock:
- potatoes - cucumbers
- beets - kale
- broccoli rabe
As you can see you can use pretty much any leftovers in your stock. On the "bad" list I put kale and broccoli rabe because they would be too bitter in the stock. You also don't want any veggie thats too watery like cucumbers, or something that will take over the stock completely, like beets.
Directions:
Heat up a large pot and add olive oil to the bottom. Once that heats up, dump whatever you have in your freezer bag into the pot. Sauté the veggies for a few minutes - you want them to start thawing and to start to brown a little bit. Once everything has been cooking for about ten minutes, cover the veggies with enough water to cover them with a few inches of water. Add about 2-3 bay leafs, 6-10 peppercorns and a handful of salt. Bring the stock up to a boil and then reduce it to a simmer. Partially cover the pot and let it simmer for at least 2 hours, but as long as you have ideally, up to 4-5 hours.
Strain the stock through a fine mesh sieve into a large bowl. Divide the stock into 2 cup containers and completely cool before storing. Depending on what I'm making, I keep whatever stock I'll be using within a few days in the fridge, and leave the rest in the freezer.
That's it!
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