Food in Changing Times: Veggie Stock: Part III – Vegan

Contains:  Optionally contains nightshades.  Is:  Vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and as a stock is Paleo, Whole30.  What you make with it after is up to you.

(Apologies for jumping the gun in auto-posting this. More photos and info coming.) This is my stock start, and I did add more onion, some nearly off Swiss chard, and ribs from kale. Lots of leek and parsnip in this photo.

Today’s stock recipe will be based on a Western-style stock, and in this case it may be heavy on the alliums but you can vary it around:

• General/Western:  Anything in the allium family, carrots/parsnips, celery, bits from bell peppers or the milder of the hot peppers, fennel, anything from the brassica family (broccoli, cabbage, bok choy), snow peas, sugar snap peas, green beans.  These are the parts you normally discard from veggies you are otherwise cooking, but don’t hesitate to add extra onion, carrot or celery for that mirepoix effect.  Or for Cajun/Creole, the Holy Trinity of extra onion, pepper and celery.  I don’t recommend potato or eggplant here, but these can certainly be part of a soup you make later on with the stock.  I don’t add grains either at this point, or hard beans, or winter squash.  DO NOT EVER ADD anything that’s gone bad.
• Japanese:  Scallions, shiitake mushrooms, kombu seaweed (if available).  Add scallions in late.  Bonito flakes (a seafood item, thus not vegetarian nor vegan) are also appropriate should you eat seafood, but hard to find in much of the world even in the best of times.  Japanese stocks (dashi) are generally made WITHOUT poultry or land-living meat products – check here for three different recipes in one post.  Dashi may contain fish, but many dashi recipes are vegan.   Again, do check the vegan one in my dashi post.   Second one down.

Today I am making a more western and general vegetable stock which is vegan.  It won’t thicken up and gelatinize – gelatin is a meat product.  But not all stocks need to do so! You can drink this as is, or use it as a base for a variety of soups.  I love barley in soups such as this.

Start by saving up your veggie parts from trimming them.  Freeze.  Mine are heavy on the onions / alliums because I have to limit how much of those I feed my chickens – and TBH to create this recipe for you I’ve temporarily limited other veggies that they’re getting.  Most of my readership doesn’t have chickens.  If you see slightly wilted veggies in the supermarket, you can buy those and set aside in the freezer.  Of course, the end product will taste like what you use…. these stocks will all vary.

This veggie stock, done. Colors will vary depending on what you are adding.

I’ll admit, while this was simmering, the stock smelled wonderfully vegetative!

Vegetarian and Vegan Stock

Collect and freeze veggies from the selections mentioned above.

When ready to make stock, add the veggies to a pot of water, and do more than cover.   Going for a standard mirepoix means onions, celery, and carrots (or as in here, parsnips).   I also had a lot of leeks to add in with the onions.  Leave the skins on unless dirty.   For Cajun/Creole “Holy Trinity”, peppers are great and are used instead of carrots – I go with the milder ones whether bell or poblano.   (Hot ones I may use to add in later, when making a soup from this stock….)  Note, in this stock I’m having it both ways!

Bring to a boil.

Reduce to a good simmer.

In two or three hours, remove from the heat, allow to cool sufficiently, and strain, saving the broth.  Squeeze all the liquid through the strainer.  The veggies will by this point have lost all their flavor, and you do not need to save these.

At your option, you can cook down further, in order to consolidate for the freezer.

When you are ready to use, you will indeed NEED to add salt to taste, but judge by approximate concentration of your final soup.  (There is a reason the boxed veggie broths will say LOW sodium, rather than NO sodium!)  But you can always add, even if you can never remove…

Enjoy!

Let’s visit our Link Parties:

•  Farm Fresh Tuesday.
• What’s for Dinner?  Sunday Link-Up.
• Full Plate Thursday.
• Fiesta Friday.  With this week’s co-hosts: Liz @ Spades, Spatulas & Spoons.  And Diann @ Of Goats and Greens.   Oh, yes, that last one is me.  Looking forward to viewing all the recipes this week!
• Homestead Blog Hop.