HOMEMADE VEGETABLE STOCK

This recipe comes straight out of the My Petite Kitchen Cookbook, by Eleanor Ozich. A lovely client photocopied Eleanor’s home-made vegetable and chicken stock recipes for me, as she is on a wholefood eating journey herself. After making this stock on the weekend I am going to run out and buy Ozich’s book for myself. Eleanor adopted a simple, clean way of eating as a solution to her young daughter’s incurable eczema and behavioural issues and her cookbook reflects how this change has transformed her daughter’s health and her life for the better.

As I mentioned in a recent blog post, I have been eager to make my own stock as I use it in spades during winter and worry about all the salt and unknown ingredients in the prepackaged powder and liquid stock on the supermarket shelves. I am always guilty of buying a little too much produce at the market every weekend and this recipe is an ingenious way to use up unwanted, sad vegetables and herbs in your fridge. For the time poor, cooking this stock did not take up much of my weekend. I put the stock on the boil on Sunday afternoon, went about my business around my home for 2 and a half hours, checking the stock every half an hour for a maximum of 30 seconds each time. The end result was approximately 3.5 litres (14 cups) of home-made, low salt and extremely flavoursome vegetable stock. Keep following the blog for the chicken stock recipe or buy Eleanor’s wholefoods' cookbook to accompany your healthy eating lifestyle. 

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tablespoons nutalex or coconut oil
• 1 large brown onion, roughly chopped
• 3 medium carrots, roughly chopped
• 3 large celery stalks and leaves, roughly chopped
• 1/2 a large fennel bulb, roughly chopped
• 1 leek, white part only, roughly chopped
• 1 garlic bulb, each clove peeled and roughly chopped
• 2 large handfuls of fresh herbs, such as thyme, rosemary, parsley, sage, stems removed
• 3 bay leaves 
• 2 teaspoons sea salt 
• 2 teaspoons ground black pepper

COOKING 

1. Melt the nutalex or oil in a large, deep saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the vegetables and garlic to the pan and cook, stirring often, for 8-10 minutes or until the vegetables are soft. 

2. Add the fresh herbs, bay leaves and salt & pepper to the pan. Cover generously with water and bring to the boil. 

3. When the stock has boiled, reduce the heat to a simmer and cook, covered, for 2 hours or longer if possible. Check the stock every 30 minutes and add more water as it evaporates. 

4. After 2 + hours of simmering, taste the stock and add more salt & pepper if needed. Strain the stock through a large sieve, into a very large clean saucepan or bowl. Discard the vegetables and herbs or use for a soup or stew. 

5. Let the stock cool completely, then pour into smaller containers. The stock will keep in the fridge for up to 1 week and in the freezer for up to 6 months, provided that the containers are freezer-proof. 

Makes / 3-4 litres / 12-16 cups

Total Preparation time / 15-25 minutes 

Total Cooking time / 2 hours 30 minutes minimum 

x Emily