Vegetable Stock Recipe

Stock is another one of those staples that you’ll find in the Island Vittles kitchen.  I use a lot of chicken stock, but because of my new job at the Market, where we try to keep the hot lunches vegetarian, I have been perfecting my veg stock over the past few weeks.

I tried roasting veggies to pull out the sweetness, but didn’t like the finished stock – too dark, and not the flavour I was looking for.  So I went back to the basics that I learned at culinary school.  I used the mirepoix as a foundation, but for extra depth I add the fennel stalks and garlic.  Italian sounding, I know, but this stock works well in virtually every cuisine.  It takes about 45 minutes from start to finish, including the prep.

Vegetable Stock

Yield:  1 Litre

Onion, peeled and cut into 8 wedges	1 medium (1C)
Celery, coarsely chopped	1 stalk (½C)
Carrot, peeled and coarsely chopped	1 small (½C)
Fennel stalks, coarsely chopped, all feathery fronds removed	From 1 bulb (¾C) (reserve main bulb for another use)
Garlic, whole	1 clove
Bouquet Garnii	10 peppercorns, 2 sprigs thyme, 6 sprigs parsley, 2 bay leaves

Place everything in a med sized saucepan and cover with 1L (4C) COLD water.    Bring to a boil over high heat, and then reduce to low.  Simmer gently for 30 minutes.  Strain into a non-plastic container and cool.  Refrigerate or freeze unless using immediately.

Tips:

• This recipe can easily be multiplied to make large batches of stock.  However, a single bouquet garnii and a couple of cloves of garlic will flavour a large volume, so there is no need to increase these ingredients.
• You can tie the contents of the bouquet garnii into a piece of cheesecloth, or do what I do:  use a tea ball.
• Add a few mushroom stems for an umami injection.
• Never use salt when making a stock – this gives you more control when it comes to seasoning the finished dish, sauce, etc.
• The green feathery fronds on a fennel bulb will darken a stock to an unappetizing dark grey colour, so make sure to remove them from the stalks before throwing the latter into the stock pot.  Use them for a garnish, or chop them into mayonnaise for an extra touch to your sandwich.
• If you don’t have fresh fennel, add a few fennel seeds into your bouquet garnii instead.