Bibs and Bobs Vegetable Stock

My partner Charlie and I are the type of people who are modern hippies, I suppose. As I mentioned a few days ago, we almost never use paper plates or plastic forks. We recycle and we reuse a pretty dramatic amount. We joined a farm share, or community supported agriculture community this year. Hell, our next major big dream purchase after my KitchenAid Mixer is a composter.

In the meantime, though, we are composter-less. We’ve thought about getting one of those little guys that sits on the countertop and thought about saving up for one of the totally sealed units that sits inconspicuously under a cupboard. For now, though, we save our eggshells to put in flowerpots (it’s good natural fertilizer), and we sneak into the backyard with our veggie scraps and toss them into the bushes.

There’s a lot of vegetable waste that’s quite… well, I wouldn’t say edible, since you’re not going to throw it in your stir-fry or plop it in your next quiche, but I would say usable. My friends Anne and Neil of the Beet Risotto, who I get many of my hippie inspired ideas from, such as joining the farm share, gave me this idea for using up all the bits of vegetables that you usually would toss in the trash.

Make your own vegetable stock.

Not only is homemade vegetable stock one of the most delicious things on the planet, it’s also a way to cut down on waste. It’s very simple. Grab a gallon size ziplock bag or other airtight container. If you live with other people, label it, “SAVE FOR STOCK,” as they’ll be wondering what these bits of vegetable trash are doing in the freezer.

Then, whenever you chop up vegetables, evaluate what’s left.

Onion papers? Toss them in.

Ends of celery and carrots? Definitely.

Fresh herbs that are a little… not so fresh, but weren’t put through a proper drying process? Yes ma’am.

I’ve collected up beet stalks, the ends of asparagus, limp parsley, that little hard nub on garlic, and whatever else I’ve come across. I stuff all the bibs and bobs into my baggie and keep it in the freezer. When the bag is full, you’re ready to make stock. The only vegetables you’ll want to avoid are the really watery ones, like lettuce. Those aren’t going to contribute much.

Ingredients

1 gallon sized bag of vegetable parts, including at least about 1 onion, 1 carrot, 2 stalks of celery, some parsley – the rest is fair game
about 10-12 cups of water (you can make your stock more or less concentrated depending on how much storage space you have – just add more water upon using it later)
3 bay leaves (since everything will be strained, this is a good time to use those broken in half ones that are hard to fish out of other recipes)
4 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons soy sauce
salt to taste
freshly ground pepper

Directions

Toss everything except the salt and pepper into a big stock pot. Bring to a boil (this may take a while if your veggies are still frozen) and then reduce to a simmer. Cover.

Let your stock simmer for at least 40 minutes to an hour, but more is definitely better. Stir occasionally. You’ll be able to see the color drain out of the vegetables, so once they’re totally useless looking and your stock is a rich color, you’ll have gotten most of the flavor into your broth. Fair warning: your kitchen will smell wonderful for the afternoon, and people will be begging you to have some.

Storage

Some people recommend freezing stock into ice cube trays that you can have it prepped in smaller amounts. You can also put it into small tupperwares in the freezer, but think carefully before freezing the entire pot into one large container… I also like to make little batches of simple noodle soups for nights when I’m not feeling well. I’ll try to update with that simple recipe soon.