Vegetable Stock

Name: Vegetable Stock
Total time: 1 h
Yield: About 3 quarts
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons olive oil; 2 onions, roughly chopped; 3 carrots, roughly chopped; 3 celery stalks, roughly chopped; 2 leeks, split, washed and chopped; 1 fennel bulb, chopped (optional); 8 ounces mushrooms or mushroom trimmings; 4 garlic cloves, crushed; 3 quarts cold water; 2 bay leaves; 6 sprigs thyme; 10 parsley stems; 10 black peppercorns; 2 ripe tomatoes, halved

A clean, quick stock with no bones

Category: Basics
Cuisine: French
Serves: About 3 quarts
Time: 1 hour
From: Phil Price

stockvegetarian

Quick, because vegetables give everything they have in about forty minutes and then start to taste stewed. Leave out brassicas and beetroot — cabbage turns it sulphurous and beetroot turns it pink.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 onions, roughly chopped
3 carrots, roughly chopped
3 celery stalks, roughly chopped
2 leeks, split, washed and chopped
1 fennel bulb, chopped (optional)
8 ounces mushrooms or mushroom trimmings
4 garlic cloves, crushed
3 quarts cold water
2 bay leaves
6 sprigs thyme
10 parsley stems
10 black peppercorns
2 ripe tomatoes, halved

Instructions

Warm the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onions, carrots, celery, leeks and fennel and cook for 10 minutes, stirring, until they soften and just begin to colour at the edges.
Add the mushrooms and garlic and cook 5 minutes more.
Add the cold water, tomatoes, bay leaves, thyme, parsley stems and peppercorns.
Bring to a simmer and cook gently, uncovered, for 40 minutes.
Strain through a fine sieve without pressing hard — pressing makes it cloudy and slightly bitter.
Cool quickly.

Notes

Save trimmings through the week in a bag in the freezer: leek tops, mushroom stalks, parsley stems, fennel fronds, onion skins for colour.
No cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower or beetroot.
Do not salt it. Season the dish it goes into instead.