Gluten Free Quick and Easy Concentrated Veggie Stock

 

What, you might well ask, is that jar of disgusting khaki paste in the photograph?

Is it some sort of slop fed to babies, or the results that come out several hours later? Is it a particularly ugly parsley pesto? Is it a raw vegan punishment for those who ate too much meat in a previous life?

No, my friends, it is none of these things. Instead, it is pure genius: concentrated veggie stock.

I often make my own liquid veggie stock, a golden brew simmered for hours and stored in the freezer in cup-sized portions for later use. But there are times when I need flavour without liquid; and that’s when I turn to this concentrated stock.

It has none of the metallic overtones of commercial veggie stocks, none of the gluten, and no MSG. It’s just veggies and herbs cooked to a paste and preserved with a bucket of salt. Start with a tablespoon or so, added to curries, soups or stews, then add more if needed.

Thanks to Mandi who told me about it, and her brother Simon who had the flash of pure genius. I should add that they both put a tomato in their stock, but at this time of the year, when tomatoes come from Whoop-Whoop, I leave it out.

Gluten Free Quick and Easy Concentrated Veggie Stock - 2 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped - 4 or 5 sticks of celery, leaves and all, roughly chopped - 1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped - 1 clove garlic, peeled - 5 mushrooms, roughly chopped - a big bunch of parsley, including the smaller stems, roughly chopped - an inch or so of rosemary, needles stripped from the stem - a sprig of thyme - 2 bay leaves - olive oil - 100g sea salt Place all the veggies and herbs into a food processor or blender. Pulse-chop until it looks like pesto. Warm 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a saucepan. Scrape the whizzed veggies into the pan, and bring to a slow boil. Let it simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, or longer if you like (the longer you cook it, the deeper the flavour). Stir regularly to ensure it doesn’t stick. When it no longer smells like raw carrot juice and most of the liquid has evaporated, add the salt. Cook for a few more minutes, stirring constantly, until the salt has dissolved. Scrape it into a jar, and store it in your fridge. It keeps for weeks. Use a tablespoon or so where you would otherwise use a stock cube. (Miss Cleverpants (ie me) thought she’d turn it into stock cubes via an ice cube tray, but the salt prevents it from freezing. So keep it in a jar in the fridge as instructed. The salt will preserve it.) (Backyard: parsley, rosemary, thyme, bay. Melbourne outskirts: celery, garlic, mushrooms. Victoria: olive oil, salt. Somewhere in Australia: onion, carrots.)

Vegetable Stock

Now that I've given the recipe for chicken stock, I've been asked how to make vegetable stock. For a comprehensive discussion of vegetables and their qualities in stock, I highly recommend the section on stocks by Deborah Madison in The Greens Cookbook. Madison uses many different vegetarian stocks, providing recipes for four general stocks and many individual stocks to complement the flavours of particular soups or stews.

But for an all-purpose stock which provides body and flavour to a dish without dominating, and is made from readily available ingredients, here's my recipe.

Vegetable Stock - 4 little red onions, or 2 brown onions, peeled and quartered - 6 cloves garlic, bashed with the flat of a knife blade and the skins flicked off - 2 or 3 outside stalks celery, coarsely chopped (save the hearts for salad) - 2 carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped - some fennel stalks, if you have them, coarsely chopped - 8 to 10 stalks flat-leaf parsley, bruised and torn (stalks included) - a few leftover chard stalks or a few outside leaves of lettuce, roughly chopped - a handful of dried mushrooms or mushroom stalks (When I'm cooking mushrooms, I freeze the tough stalks ready for stock.) - 2 bay leaves - 5 peppercorns - 1 tsp salt - olive oil Warm a good drizzle of olive oil in a large soup pot. Add the vegetables as they are prepared, so that each has a few minutes to sauté before the next is added. Add the aromatics, salt, and 3 litres of cold water and bring to the boil. Skim off any scum that rises to the surface, then lower the heat and simmer for 45 minutes to an hour. Strain. For a stronger flavour, return it to the pot and reduce further. Taste for salt. Pour into small containers. Cool, then store in the freezer. I freeze my stock in single-cup portions, easy to measure when making a soup, stew or risotto at a later date. (Local: onions, garlic, celery, carrots, fennel, parsley, chard, lettuce, mushrooms, bay leaves, olive oil. Not local: salt, peppercorns.)

Chicken Stock

In one of our many inconsistencies, although we don't cook meat we do use chicken stock. It gives some vegetarian food – especially pumpkin soup – a depth of flavour that is difficult to achieve otherwise.

By chicken stock, I mean the real deal: unctuous, heavenly scented stock made from the bones of a genuine dead chook. If we picnic with friends, I beg the bones of the roast and make it; or if it's been a while between picnics, I buy a carcase from our local supermarket for the princely sum of $1.20 a kilo.

Chicken bones are usually thrown away, so I figure I may as well use this otherwise waste product. I like using things up! I also throw in any fennel tops I've saved from the top of a bulb, and those half eaten carrots and stalks of celery that sometimes come home in a kid's lunchbox. If there are some forgotten mushrooms floating around the bottom of the fridge, I put them in too; they give the stock a stronger, more woodsy flavour.

I'm not being particularly try-hard by making my own stock. For one thing, commercial stocks taste so harsh and salty; and many of them give me a thick tongue, sore throat and headache, so there's some little nasty in there that I don't tolerate very well.

But the real reason I make my own stock is that it's so delicious – and easy. This is how to do it: after dinner, put the kids to bed. Throw all the ingredients into a large pot, bring to the boil, then turn down to a simmer. Go and watch Miss Marple, or perhaps Bones. When it's finished, come into the kitchen and strain the stock. Chuck the things in the dishwasher. Put the stock in the freezer. And that's pretty much it.

Chicken Stock - 1 chicken carcase, raw or from a roast - 4 little red onions, or 2 brown onions, peeled and quartered - 4 cloves garlic, bashed with the flat of a knife blade and the skins flicked off - 1 stalk celery, coarsely chopped - 1 carrot, peeled and coarsely chopped - some fennel stalks, if you have them, coarsely chopped - 3 or 4 stalks flat-leaf parsley - 2 bay leaves - 5 peppercorns Place everything into a large soup pot and cover with 1½ litres of cold water. Bring to the boil, then turn down to a simmer. Skim off any gunk that floats to the surface. Simmer for 1½ hours or so. Strain – I run it through a colander, then a sieve – then season to taste. For a clearer stock, run it through a coffee filter. If I'm not using the stock immediately, I freeze it in single cup portions, easily defrosted for soup or risotto. (Local: red and brown onions, garlic, celery, carrot, parsley, bay leaves. Unknown: chicken bones, fennel. Not local: peppercorns.)