Saving Vegetable Stock For A Rainy Day

I love my freezer (and not just because that's where you'll find the ice cream). I'm one of those people who prepares huge batches of meals or baked goods and freezes them for some vague future date. This probably began when I finally embraced my depression era impulse to never, ever waste food. Can't eat a whole loaf of bread before it gets moldy? Freeze it. Went a little crazy at the farmer's market and fear a produce bin of rotting produce? Freeze it. Find yourself with extra cake frosting or leftover pizza dough? Freeze those too.

My love affair with the freezer became even more extreme when I realized it takes basically the same amount of work to cook enough enchiladas for one dinner as it does to cook enough for three. The same holds true for just about every meal and meal component I can think of. Since there will always be nights when I'm too busy or exhausted to make a real dinner (and I've yet to convince my family that "there's a whole bunch of stuff in the fridge if you just dig around" constitutes a meal plan), my freezer is always well stocked.

[This is where I was going to insert a photo of the contents of my freezer, but it turns out that frozen granola bars, black beans, pinto beans, quinoa, fall vegetable soup, pesto, vegetable stock, and assorted breads will never be photogenic. The soup above, however, is pretty . . . and intriguing. I'd like to make it with the vegetable stock currently residing in my freezer.]

Vegetable stock really does have more body and flavor when it's homemade. I absolutely think you can cook a tasty soup without it in a pinch, but this is definitely a meal component where its contribution to the final product will outweigh the preparation factor, especially if you always make a huge batch, freeze it in ice cube trays (you can pop the cubes out when the stock is frozen and transfer them to a ziploc bag), and pull them out as needed.

My recipe for stock goes something like this:

Notice I have some vegetables that need to be eaten asap (make sure little hands don't steal the carrots before they're peeled and chopped). Chop the veggies, toss with a little olive oil, and brown them in my stock pot or by roasting in the oven. Add some garlic, parsley from our herb pot, and a parmesan rind from the freezer. Add a whole bunch of water and simmer until I think of it again. Strain. Taste. Throw in some pepper and soy sauce.

I realize that recipe is not particularly helpful if you've never made stock before, which is why I must direct you to one of my favorite people: Mark Bittman, the Minimalist. He will give you more precise instructions for how to make delicious and easy vegetable stock. My only advice (even if it requires you to use two pots) is to double his recipes.

This is the vegetable soup I made with my stock last week. If you have good stock, "making soup" just means adding your favorite vegetables (and maybe topping with some parmesan or pesto). Yum.

Comments

[Meg Blocker]

I made an insane veggie stock last year as part of a larger recipe for vegetarian shepherd's pie. I have since become addicted to both recipes (minus the seitan in the pie, which just isn't as tasty as extra veggies). It was from Gourmet's last issue. Sniff.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Rich-Vegetable-Stock-355995

[elisabeth]

Mmmm, now I have an intense craving for shepard's pie. I may have to get right on that, especially since it's such a dreary day.