Perfect soup starts with an excellent homemade vegetable stock. You can use parts of vegetables you might otherwise send to the compost pile (such as peels and ends), which makes it easy on your pocketbook as well.
Vegetable Stock
Makes 8 cups
Perfect soup starts with an excellent homemade vegetable stock. You can use parts of vegetables you might otherwise send to the compost pile (such as peels and ends), which makes it easy on your pocketbook as well.
8 cups filtered water
1 large carrot, roughly chopped
1 onion, roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 small leek, chopped (most of the green part included) and washed well
2 ribs celery, chopped
4 stems parsley
7 black peppercorns
Bay leaf
Optional:
1 stick astragalus
1 root of codonopsis
1 tablespoon dried nettles
1 sheet kombu or 1 tablespoon dulse flakes
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast (may make the stock a bit cloudy)
Bring all ingredients to a boil in a large stock pot over high heat. When the water boils, turn down heat to lowest setting, and skim off any foam that rises to the top. Partially cover the pot and let simmer for 45 minutes to an hour so that bubbles just barely break the surface.
Strain the stock through a colander lined with several layers of cheesecloth or a few paper towels.
