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 

GOIUVARLAKIA GREEK SOUP

 I was in Melbourne last weekend for 24 hours; for a family gathering and an AFL game (two guesses where I was born?). I went down with my boyfriend Chris, who likes to take life kinda slowly and in his stride. I am the complete opposite. I seem to cut, scratch, spill, trip, wound or fall down on a regular occurrence as I am going too fast to notice inanimate objects around me. On Sunday morning, I was up and ready to start the 2 degree day, however Chris was not. So I pottered down to the hotel reception and picked up the first magazine I found- ‘Feast’ by SBS. And I fell in love. Who could not after skimming a magazine about food from cultures all over the globe? And the most mouth-watering, aesthetic photos of food. Long story short, I took/stole the magazine and poured over it on the flight home, immediately purchasing a year-long subscription online. My first recipe from Feast was Giouvarlakia Greek Soup, which is a scrumptious soup that contains beef & rice meatballs and a soup foundation made from avgolemono- a lemon and egg mixture. A truly remarkable soup, unlike anything I have tasted before - try it! 

(The Feast recipe has been altered somewhat below).

INGREDIENTS

• 500g extra lean minced beef
• 3 eggs
• 1 brown onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced 
• 1/2 a cup finely chopped fresh parsley, plus extra to serve 
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary 
• 1/2 cup long-grain rice (I used doongara rice)
• 1 litre (4 cups) beef stock
• 1 litre (4 cups) water
• 2 teaspoons oil (I used grapeseed oil)
• 1 lemon, squeezed/juiced
• sea salt & black pepper

COOKING 

1.Place minced beef, 1 egg (lightly beaten), onion, garlic, parsley, rosemary, 1 teaspoon oil and sea salt & pepper in a large bowl. Using your hands, combine the ingredients until mixed well. With slightly wet hands, form the beef mixture into 24-30 even sized meatballs. Place these on a large plate/tray and refrigerate for 20 minutes. 

2. After the meatballs have been in the fridge for 10 minutes, place water, beef stock, 1 teaspoon oil and 1 teaspoon salt in a large saucepan and bring to the boil. Leave the liquid boiling for a few minutes and then reduce heat to simmer. Gently add meatballs and cook, covered, for around 15 minutes or until beef is all cooked through. Remove the saucepan from heat. 

3. Whisk 2 eggs and lemon juice in a medium bowl. Add 60ml of the hot soup (a little over 1/4 cup) and whisk until mixed well. Stir the egg & lemon mixture into the big saucepan and return the pan to low to medium heat for 2-3 minutes. Take care not to let the soup boil, as the eggs will start to solidify. Remove from heat when cooked through and sprinkle with extra parsley, if desired. Serve warm.

Serves / 4 - 6 

Total Preparation time / 35 minutes (including refrigeration time)

Total Cooking time / 30 minutes 

x E

CHICKEN STOCK STIR-FRY

Another stir-fry for your viewing/reading pleasure. This stir-fry was meant to be a soup, however it appeared throughout the cooking process that I did not use enough stock, hence the stir-fry was born. As I was heading to Melbourne for the weekend for a royal eat-a-thon with my extended family, I decided that a simple vegetable chicken dinner would be a nice detoxing meal before the epic feeding. Super easy to make, add 2 more cups of chicken or vegetable stock to make a soup instead. If you like more sauce, drizzle tamari sauce on top (or soy sauce for you lucky non-gluten intolerance people!).

INGREDIENTS

• 400g chicken breast, cut into even strips
• 1 small carrot, finely chopped
• 100g green beans, trimmed & cut in half
• 1 medium green capsicum, finely chopped
• 2 large garlic cloves, finely diced
• 1 broccoli head, florets & stalks chopped
• 2 cups chicken/vegetable stock 
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• Optional- tamari sauce to serve 

COOKING 

1. Heat oil in a large wok over medium heat, swirling to coat the surface. Add chicken and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, for 4-5 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and no pink colour remains. Add stock and cut up vegetables,  and stir occasionally for 6-7 minutes or until vegetables are tender. 

2. Whilst vegetables are cooking, bring a large pot of water to the boil. Add rice noodles and cook for 2-3 minutes, separating the noodles. Remove from heat when noodles are tender but not soggy and drain well with cold water. 

3. Add drained noodles to the wok and toss with the chicken and cooked vegetables for 1-2 minutes, until all combined. Serve warm, with a drizzle of tamari sauce if you desire. 

Serves / 4 

Total Preparation time / 15 minutes 

Total Cooking time / 15 minutes 

x E