Roasted Vegetable Stock

I learned a rule of thumb that I try to follow, though its not always practical with the business of life. Apparently, every chef and cook through the ages learns this on day one of their cooking education. But I’m not a chef, so only when I began loving cooking did this wise rule make its way into my head by osmosis. It states, ‘Never use water in cooking when you can use a stock.’ And not that salty stuff from the store. Make your own, its cheaper because you can use scraps of vegetables, leftovers from the veggie tray from that party last night, or that lone and wilting celery stalk in the crisper. Fresh vegetables that are getting past their prime go into the garbage pail or the compost pile, but if you toss them in the stock pot first, you will make better use of the dollars tied up in them. And, its exceedingly easy to make a stock.

Stocks add flavor, while water just dilutes flavor. The reason soups and gravies taste better in a nice restaurant is they are made with stock, not water. Think of it this way – when you labor over a holiday roast and there is all that juicy goodness in the bottom of the roasting pan, there is not often enough of it to serve as gravy for the whole family. You add some water to it and scrape all the goodness off the pan and thicken it with flour to extend the gravy, pour it in a gravy boat, and by the time its makes its way around the table, its gone. Little cousin Sally poured the last drippings on her mashed potatoes.

But the water isn’t helping the gravy, it is diluting it as it extends it. Its getting watered down. Instead, use a beef or vegetable stock in place of the water, and consider backing off on the flour. You will get a more rich and flavorful gravy and it will go further. You will be adding goodness and flavor from the stock pot to the goodness and flavor in the pan, the two together make life better. Water is for drinking and bathing, washing cars and science experiments. Water can be for cooking, steaming, poaching, etc., but use it to make stock and your life will improve greatly.

Getting the boil going. Notice, there are skins and leaves and seeds in there too.

Here’s a nice recipe for a vegetable stock. A vegetable stock should be a mellow liquid. Un-roasted, its even more mellow. You can, of course, adjust or use whatever vegetables you have lying around. Avoid powerful aromas and strong flavored vegetables like cabbages and broccoli, the goal is a mellow richness, not a liquor of cabbage-flavored oil.

Also, understand that a stock is not a soup by itself. It will not be a stand alone liquid without help. But it does make a basic building block of greater things.

Ingredients

• 4 carrots, unpeeled, cut into chunks
• 1 whole head of fresh garlic, leave the skin on
• 4 stalks celery, with leaves, cut into large pieces
• 1 green pepper, seeds and all, cut into chunks
• 2 or 3 onions, quartered, leave the skin on
• 1 tomato if you have it, cut in chunks
• half of a turnip, cut in pieces.
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• Water to cover all, depends on the size of your stock pot
• Fresh thyme sprigs to taste
• 4-5 sprigs of fresh parsley
• 2 bay leaves, more if you like the flavor
• 5-10 black peppercorns, cracked, or a good grind from the pepper mill.

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Arrange the veggies on a baking sheet or roasting pan, but keep the thyme, parsley, bay leaves and pepper corns aside, they go in the pot later. Slice the garlic head in two. Drizzle olive oil over everything, you can salt it if you want, I left the salt out. You can add salt later.

Place this wonderful goodness in the oven for 20 or 30 minutes. Turn the veggies and roast on for another 30 minutes. The goal is to get some brown on these veggies, for the brown is where the flavor goes from plain to heaven-made. The caramelization of the sugars in the vegetables is the secret to the roasted variety of veggie stock. This oxidizing process also imparts a golden color to the finished stock.

Once nicely roasted, it all goes into a large stock pot, along with the spices. Cover with water, this isn’t science, so I can’t tell you how much. Just cover the veggies and then add a little more. The water-to-vegetable ratio is where the art is; the less water, the more concentrated stock. Bring this to a rolling boil, reduce the heat to a slow boil, and let it go for 3 to 4 hours, more if you have the time. The veggies won’t give up much more goodness after 6 hours.

Strain it all through a find colander or cheesecloth, do it twice if you need to get the little bits, and toss the mushy veggies in the compost pile. This golden goodness is now ready to be used as a base for soups and gravies in place of mere tap water, with the added benefit that it is healthy. Freeze in small quantities so you can actually use it instead of having a ten pound ice ball when you just need a cup or two. It keeps of 4-5 weeks in the freezer, so I am told. I use mine up before freezing. Stock kept longer than a week in the fridge is said to be over-due, but I’ve risked using it before with no side effects.

A stock is the secret elixir to healthy, delicious food. Make some!