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- Total Time: Under 2 Hours
- Skill Level: Easy
- Cost: Inexpensive
- Favorited: 4 Times
Can be made ahead of time.
Basic Vegetable Broth
Basic Vegetable Broth
Cookbook
Good-quality commercially prepared vegetable broths are available, but if you make your own, then you know exactly what's in it and you can control the amount of added salt. For a slight sweetness, add whole cloves or star anise along with the bay leaf—remember to remove these before using the broth.
Yield
: MAKES ABOUT 6 CUPS
Prep Time
: 5 minutes
Cooking Time
: about 1 hour
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 large sweet onion such as Vidalia, coarsely chopped
- 2 stalks celery, coarsely chopped
- 2 carrots, trimmed, peeled, and coarsely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, with skins on, crushed with a side of a chef's knife
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup coarsely chopped fresh parsley
- 1 bay leaf
Directions
1. In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion, celery, carrots, garlic, and salt and cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until slightly softened, about 5 minutes. Add 8 cups water, parsley, and bay leaf. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, for 1 hour.
2. Strain stock through a fine-mesh sieve placed over large bowl. Gently press the solids with a rubber spatula or back of a large spoon to squeeze out juices. Discard solids.
3. Use stock as is, or for a more concentrated flavor, boil to reduce by one quarter to one half.
Notes
Serving Suggestions: Use in any of your own recipes that call for chicken or beef broth. For a practically instant soup, warm some of this stock, then add small cubes of firm tofu.
Make-Ahead Tip: Broth can be refrigerated for up to three days or frozen for up to a month. If you make concentrated stock, for easier storage, pour it into ice cube trays, freeze, then pop out the cubes and store them in a freezer bag in freezer. Several cubes are the beginning of a soup, and two or three can be used for steaming vegetables.
© 2006 David Ricketts
