These stocks of mine

I've decided that I will every so often talk about the cooking I do at home, so consider this the first in an irregular series.

I've been making my own stocks for a couple of years now, but only recently have I found them reaching a fuller, more perfect state. Usually, I was only making them to serve as the base for an actual soup - there's this butternut squash soup I make in the autumn, that I shudder to admit is actually largely derived from a Martha Stewart (pre-prison) recipe. Anyway, I was going through heaps of vegetables just to make the stocks, and overfilling my organics waste bin every time. The stocks themselves didn't taste that special to me, but I figured that maybe there was a layering effect happening, allowing the flavors to contribute in a subtle way to the rest of the finished meal. Naturally, a stock is meant to be background, filler, giving extra depth to another dish, so on their own, don't expect them to taste like all that much. But, with a little bit of preparation, it's not hard at all to make a gourmet stock that if need be, can stand on its own, too. With the girl being mostly vegetarian - eggs and most forms of seafood slip past the goalie - these stocks of mine are purely vegetarian as well. If I need to, I can always dice some bacon into my bowl.

So, the thing that changed was, a while ago I went for dinner at a fancy restaurant with a friend of mine who works in the kitchen there. We wound up having a bit of a tasting menu, in that they brought us a few freebies and bonuses, and my friend was able to tell us how they made what. We got on to sauces and stocks - one of my friend's departments - and he filled me in on some very obvious ideas, so obvious I was surprised I hadn't done it before. Stocks and soups more or less developed over the years as a way of cleaning out the pantry, using up the ends and leftovers, and squeezing every little bit out. Every time I make a stir-fry or a pasta sauce I've got a whole bunch of scraps just going in the bin. Why not get every little bit of use out of them? I've read elsewhere that some gourmets frown upon the idea of using scraps in their stocks - they say there's a reason they weren't used in the original dishes after all. Well, to each their own, I suppose, but there's a ton of flavor and nutrients in the woody ends of asparagus, carrot peel and so on.

What you see above is today's stock being brewed. I'll do it about every 2 weeks or so, and it becomes the foundation of many of my other dishes. Last night I discovered at the last minute that I only had brown rice (an overpowering flavor I can not stand) so I threw in my last couple of cups of stock, and it made a huge difference. Anyway, the base of all good stocks is the mirepoix - a combination of onion, celery and carrot usually in the ratio of 2:1:1. For my stocks, I usually use one very large white onion (or 2 average), about 4 large carrots and half a bunch of celery. (Fennel bulb, with its slight anise flavoring, make a nice substitute for celery - again, about half a bulb.) Chop them up, saute in oil - canola, olive, whatever - until the oil starts to color. Then come the scraps - I save them up in a large zip lock bag in the freezer; sometimes I've got a couple on the go. You want to avoid stinky stuff, or at least go easy on it, as you don't want to overwhelm your stock. (So, avoid too much broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, beets.) Some things are no-brainers: ends of carrots, onions, peppers (lay off the spicy ones), tomatoes etc. Consider the peels of onions and garlic - saute them at the beginning with the mirepoix. If you peel carrots and potatoes for other dishes, throw in the peels here (as long you've washed out any dirt). Sometimes I'll even throw in some potatoes while I'm at it - I prefer Yukon Golds for that. Basically, I usually have about 6 to 8 cups of odds and ends to put in, on top of the mirepoix. Today they included: mushroom stems (cremini and oyster), asparagus stems (from about 2 bundles), eggplant ends (from one small one), tomato ends, cores from red, green and yellow peppers (include the seeds), the peel from a head of garlic I roasted last week, bits of lettuce and the ends from a bunch of snap peas. As long as it's clean, and not funky, it goes in. In addition, I add: kosher salt and peppercorns to taste, a couple of bay leaves, equal amounts of oregano, basil and thyme: if fresh, say about 4 or 5 sprigs each, if dry, about a tablespoon each, although I try to go easier on the thyme.

Fill up the pot with water, with room to spare - I usually am able to add about 16 cups. Bring it to boil, and then let it simmer all afternoon, covered, until it reduces a bit - at least 2 hours; 3 or 4 is better. I'm usually able to get mine down to about 12 or 13 cups of finished stock. Let it cool, uncovered, for a good 15 minutes or more, so you can handle it better. Ladle out the soup, chunks and all, into a strainer. The finer the mesh the better, as you want to be left with a smooth, clean stock. I use a cheesecloth, which gets everything, even the starch. For storage, I reserve the stock in those plastic containers that you get salsa in - the ones I use won't quite hold 2 cups, but they'll hold 1 1/2 quite well, and I've got tons of them. Ladle them out, pre-measured, and put a bunch right in the freezer. They'll keep for weeks, but if you're at all like me, you'll find that you use them up pretty fast. I always try to keep one thawed in the fridge, so that H can have a quick soup if she likes - just add some noodles and some fresh green onion, maybe some carrot shredded, and you're set. I'm flavoring rice with it, giving depth to tomato pasta sauce, basically in place of water in most recipes. You'll find that even your best dishes will pop at with more detail than before.

Vegetable Stock

Fresh Vegetables:

• 1 large (or 2 medium) onions, diced
• 3 or 4 large carrots, chopped, ends and all
• 1/2 large bunch of celery, or half fennel bulb, chopped loosely; in either case, include the leaves, minced
• 3 or 4 cloves garlic chopped

herbs: basil, oregano, thyme, bay leaf; 4 or 5 sprigs of the first three, may each be substituted with 2 tsp dry - use 4 bay leaves if fresh, 6 if dry

Scraps:

• save your scraps in a large freezer Ziploc bag - chop items smaller before freezing so they will be easier to handle (like ends of large onions, pepper cores, etc)
• things that make great additions to stocks: bell peppers (not spicy), mushroom stems, asparagus ends, broccoli stems (in moderation), lettuce hearts, skins and peels from onion and garlic, zucchini, cucumber, eggplant
• things to avoid: "stinky stuff", such as: cauliflower, cabbage and brussel sprouts... use them in moderation, otherwise your stock will be quite one-dimensional
• tips: beets will make your stock red.
• roasting some vegetables beforehand will broaden and enrich the flavors; try it with root vegetables, but also with peppers and garlic

1. Saute fresh veggies in large stock pot or dutch oven on high heat in oil - I use olive oil, but any oil would be fine - until oil starts to pick up color of the carrots
2. Add fresh (or dry) herbs, and kosher salt and peppercorns to taste (I usually use about 1 Tbsp of each, plus a little bit of fresh ground pepper)
3. Gradually add frozen veggie scraps - some may take a while to break up. The frozen ones that hold a lot of their own water - like fennel, for example - will release their moisture as they thaw, preventing sticking.
4. Add water until you can cover the heap of vegetables by at least an inch. I find I can generally ad between 14 and 16 cups of water, depending on how densely I have stuffed my freezer bags.
5. Bring to a boil (may take a while with frozen stuff) and reduce to a simmer; let simmer for 3 or 4 hours, stirring every 30 minutes or so. Occasionally, I like to gently use a potato masher to really wring the veggies out.
6. When done, arrange a cheesecloth over a large mixing bowl - one that will be large enough to hold the pot's contents! - and slowly pour the contents of the pot through the cloth. (If you don't have a cheesecloth, get one; or use your finest-mesh strainer which won't get everything, but most of it.)
7. After straining, let cool before storing. I like to pre-measure my stored portions before freezing them for storage - pick a round, reasonable quantity that will be useful to you - i use 1 1/2 and 2 cup portions.