Moosh's Non-Fat Veggie Stock

My name is Michelle and I am a Soup-A-Holic.  It started about a year and a half ago when I discovered that making soup was easy, cheap, healthy and filling. I love that I can make soups from different ethnic backgrounds, that most soups share common ingredients, that i can put veggies that are good for me that I may not have eaten otherwise in a soup and get all of its nutrients....I could go on...The point is that I LOVE SOUP.  But until recently I had never made my own veggie stock!  I have been using Low Sodium Organic Veggie Bouillon cubes and calling it a day.  Things like stock intimidate me...you know?

Well, it turns out that Making your own veggie stock is no scarier then chopping up veggies and putting them in a pot! who knew? (apparently lots of people..but this is for those people who don't know and are about to learn)  Ahem

I have been recently shopping at St Lawrence Farmer's Market  on Saturdays.  (for non Torontonians this is a Year long artisan and farmers market that is a hub for local produce, meats cheeses and foods--also a hub for lots of NON local foods...but it is up to the shopper to become wise as to which is which) anyway...because of my schedule I have not been able to make it there very early meaning that I miss out on the majority of the eggs and cheese and most of the produce because the farmers leave when the sell out.  However since I get there late, the farmers who are left are happy to get rid of whatever they have left.  So several of these veggies I got for very cheap from a nice farmer who only had a little bit of stuff left.  Thanks!

 To make 16 cups of veggie stock (my intention is to freeze most of it...if you don't want to do this then cut the recipe in half!) I based this recipe on a mixture of ones I have read about...


Ingredients:
1 Onion
3 regular sized carrots
3 cups of mushrooms
3 cellery stalks
3 cloves of garlic
1 tomato
1/2 tsp of peppercorn
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup of parsley

Directions:
1. preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit 
2. Chop up all of the veggies, don't worry about being too meticulous they will be strained out eventually!  save the peppercorn, salt and parsley for later...
3. For a completely non-fat stock pour 1/2 cup of water over the chopped veggies before putting them in the oven. If you don't mind a little fatty stock then go ahead and put a couple tablespoons of olive oil over the veggies.
4. Roast all together for 30-40 minutes

 

5. Split the veggies into two large pots and add 8 cups of water to each along with 1/4 tsp of peppercorn in each and 1/4cup or parsley in each. Allow to reach a boil and then let simmer for an hour.  

6. Strain your veggies out of and put aside for now.

7a. If you are making soup right away then take the allotted amount and continue on with your desired soup recipe and allow the rest to cool so that you may put it away in freezable containers

Moosh Method:

For step 7 I had a moral dilemma...what should I do with all of these fresh and organic (expensive and tasty) veggies? I didnt want to throw them out or compost them, I wanted to eat them! So I continued on to make a Valuable Veggie Soup. 

7b. Take the veggies and pick out the peppercorn (at this point it has done its job and if left it your soup will be VERY PEPPERY!!!) 

8. Decide how much soup you want to make and take that amount and put it in a pot (I went with half of my batch so 8 cups). Add the veggies along with sage, oregano, parsley (if you have any left--chances are if you have fresh parsley then you are trying to use it all up!) some thyme and whatever other spices you so desire, a pinch of salt to taste.

9. Bring to boil again and then simmer for another 45-60 minutes tasting and adding whatever it is you like.  If you have an immersion blender then you can go ahead and blend part of the soup.  I like my soup to be blended between chunks and smooth broth..so this is a personal preference.

At this point its up to you what you like--if you want to add some noodles or some spice?  I don't like those things particularly in my soup so I stopped here!

The end result is that I now have two 4cup containers of fresh frozen broth and 1 large batch of SUPER VEGGIE soup.   Really perfect for this grey-snowy-shitty-weather.

Also I put some of the stock in an Ice tray so that I can throw it in when I am boiling some grain or making a stir fry..yummy