Home-made vegetable stock

Stock gets most of its taste from meat and bones (poultry, cattle or fish). What to do if you are vegetarian? This vegetable stock has an incredibly rich taste, without the help of salt, meat or stock cubes. Even real carnivores will appreciate this stock. You can use it for soups and sauces, and of course for making great risotto.
There are some links in the recipe to the tips & tricks of broth making. There you can find descriptions of how to strain, reduce, cool and keep your broth. Because that is the same for all broths and stocks, this information is gathered on one page. On that page you can also find links to other recipes for stocks and soups.
Makes 3 litres stock; preparation 1 hour + straining, reducing, cooling.

5 onions with skin
250 gr (3 cups) broccoli (with the stalks, or just the stalks)
500 gr (4 cups) carrots
500 gr (5½ cups) leeks
400 gr (3½ cups) stem celery
1 large courgette (zucchini)
1 bottle of dry white wine
6 l (1½ gallon) water
1 sprig of thyme
1 sprig of rosemary
2 bay leaves
1 garlic clove, peeled
2 cloves
piece of mace
if you have it some peels of asparagus or mushrooms
60 gr (¼ cup) butter or olive oil

Preparation

Use vegetables that are grown without pesticides, if possible. Wash and clean them, and chop the lot, except for the onions.
Wash the onions with their skin. Keep one onion aside, cut that one in half. In a non-stick skillet, place the onion with the cut sides downwards, roast them until brown. Chop the other four onions, but keep them apart (and keep the skins).
Heat butter or oil in a soup pan with a content of 10 litres. Sautée the chopped onions with skin and all. Then add the other vegetables.fry for three minutes. Pour white wine over them, add water, herbs and roasted onion. Bring to the boil, let simmer for 45 minutes. Skim if necessary.

Strain the stock, and reduce to three litres, then let it cool quickly. Now you can freeze what you don’t need immediately. This concentrated stock can also be used in sauces, sometimes you’ll only need a tablespoon or two. Freeze some of the stock in an ice cube holder.

Do not forget to label your frozen stock, in the freezer all stocks look alike.

Recipe for tasty vegetable stock, suitable for vegetarians and vegans
© Author Christianne Muusers