Vegetable stock
Well it has to be done doesn’t it!? I find now I tend to make all my stocks so regularly that it has become second nature. Bizarrely however, I haven’t made much vegetable stock before, in fact if my memory serves me correctly, I have never made any. I just don’t seem to use it as much as veal or chicken stock. My freezer is full, and I mean FULL, of both veal and chicken stock containers, but vege stock has never graced its interior before. This will change as of today people.
The main reason for this is because I am going to be cooking a birthday dinner for my dad this coming weekend. It shall be a full 4 course meal, with the amuse bouches and palette cleansers etc, naturally, as one does, and one of the dishes will be a delicious cep risotto. You may remember it from here. Vegetable stock is needed for this, and I figured now will be a good time to make the stock from scratch rather than buy it from the shops.
As with all stocks, you start off with your base vegetables of carrots, onions, leak, garlic and celery etc and sweat them off in some olive oil till softened.
Base vegetables
This was then swiftly followed by about 2 litres worth of water and then left to simmer for about 20 min.
Now with added water
Once the 20 min were up, I then took it off the heat, added the wine and the herbs, stirred once or twice and let it cool completely. This was so quick and so easy I had to go back to the book to make sure I had done it correctly. Surely this wasn’t it? It was.
Stock done, and cooling
Once cooled I lined a fine sieve with some muslin cloth and then spooned in the stock… out came a wonderfully fragrant vegetable stock than once and for all proved that you can do so much better than shop bought stocks. I bottled it up into some spare Waitrose stock containers (You see there is method to my madness… I knew these containers would come in use at some point) and then froze those bad boys for a later date. I kept one out and used it for a risotto that evening and it worked a treat!
Final product
Vegetable stock… Done!
Next up: Scallops with sweetcorn puree and quail’s eggs
Previous post: Pear tarte tatin with Gorgonzola ice cream
