Vegetable Stock
- Selena Bean
- Aug 25
- 1 min read
Updated: Sep 16
A bold and rich stock will help create the depth you seek in your cooking and enhance many dishes that are lacking body. In traditional French cuisine, stocks are made using meat bones and vegetables, together with herbs and peppercorns. Meat stocks take many hours of simmering to extract the maximum flavour and goodness from the bones.
The extraction process for vegetable stock is a lot quicker, and you can make a big batch in advance for later use. The vegetables need to be clean but do not require peeling. The onion skins release a dark brown colour so if you would like the stock to be lighter in colour, remove the skins.
Avoid the temptation to throw every old vegetable in your larder into the pot. You are not making soup. The stock should enhance your dishes not overpower them. It is there to provide a base for your flavours to build upon. If you put garlic in the stock, then you will not have the option of not having garlic in a dish. The same goes for salt. It will become a lot more concentrated as the stock reduces. It is always better to season the dish you are making. Again you have the option of leaving salt out of a dish.
The stock will keep for around 5 days in the fridge but can be frozen in portion size blocks. Any sediment will settle to the bottom so be careful not to pour that into your dish.
Follow this simple recipe to create your stock and see how it changes the flavour of your food.
1
Vegetables
It is important not to use:
Starchy vegetables such as potato, kumara, pumpkin. These will break down and make the stock cloudy
Leafy vegetables such as cabbage or celery leaves. These will become bitter and create a compost like odour
2
Cooking
The stock benefits by longer, slower boiling. After the initial boiling, the water should simmer so gently that it is hardly moving. It should reduce by almost half before straining. The vegetables should look well cooked but not disintegrated.
3
The Waste
Great food for chooks if you have them, or worm farm or compost.
Notes
1
*Remove loose outermost dry layer from the onion and cut into quarters.
*Chop carrots, leek and celery into rough chunks
*Put all ingredients into a large saucepan and cover with the water
2
*Bring to the boil and allow to boil rapidly for 15 minutes.
*Reduce the heat and allow to simmer uncovered for 2 hours
3
*Reserving the liquid, strain through a sieve and allow vegetables to drain for 1/2 hour.
*Return the sieved liquid back to a clean pot and boil again until reduced by a about a quarter.
*Skim any scum which rises to the top
*When cool enough to handle, strain the liquid again through a piece of muslin.
*Store the stock in the fridge for up to a week or decant into portion sized containers and freeze.
4
Instructions
2 medium onions
1 green top of leek
2 carrots
2 sticks of celery
1 sprig thyme
1 sprig parsley
3 bayleaves
10 peppercorns
2 litres water
Prepare Vegetables
Vegetable Stock
Chef, R&D, Photographer, Author
Selena Bean
Rich vegetable stock to build your cooking on.
Servings :
Calories:
Prep Time
10 min
Cooking Time
2 hours 30 mins
Rest Time
2 hours, while you wait, put your feet up or make something else
Total Time
3 hours with clean-up
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