kitchen experiments

it's the most wonderful time of the year....

Mmm. Autumn.

This long-abandoned weblog is about to get some lovin'.

After a summer hiatus from major cooking projects, I have returned to the kitchen. I have been in a creation fury for the past few weeks, spending my days tutoring and trying out new recipes. I roasted my first whole chicken, messed around with biscotti recipes, and made pots and pots of vegetable stock. While there are some recipes that one has to keep for oneself, I enjoy sharing my favorite family, self-created, and public recipes; here is the perfect place for that.

A simple one for today, then:

Vegetable Stock

Freezable, wonderful as a base for soups, steaming, or boiling, this is a good all-around vegetarian liquid.

the goods:
one big ol' stockpot, no lid

content:
2 big carrots, with or without tops
2-3 leafy stalks of celery
1 large onion, sweet spanish or other kind
8-10 sprigs parsley
1 large leek
a large handful of mushrooms (i use baby portobelli)
1 very large or 2 medium tomatoes
1 peeled thumb-sized knob of ginger
6-10 whole peppercorns, or equivalent ground pepper
1 bay leaf and/or a sprinkle of dried hearbs of your choice (season to taste)

prep the veggies: thickly slice the carrots, celery (with leaves), onion. cut the ginger into a few pieces. gut the tomatoes and cut into eighths. cut leek in half lengthwise and wash out all the sand and dirt (they are dirty suckers), then chop into several pieces. Clean and quarter the mushrooms.

dump the vegetables and seasonings into the pot and cover with water, not quite to the top of the pot (leave room for boiling!). bring this to a boil and then simmer for an hour. Strain the liquid very well, discard the vegetables. Season to taste. This will keep in the fridge for 2-4 days and in the freezer for several months.

If you want a more concentrated broth, keep the heat just a bit higher and simmer until the liquid has been reduced by about 25% (one fourth).

Tasty Vegetable Rice Soup

3 cups Vegetable Stock
large handful of baby carrots, cut into quarters
1/2 cup rice
1 gutted, sliced tomato
2 cups baby spinach, washed and patted dry
salt, pepper, and Old Bay Seasoning to taste

boil the broth in a large sauce pot. add rice and carrots, simmer until the rice is done (15-20 minutes). Add tomato, cook on medium heat another 5 minutes. Just before it is ready to serve, put in spinach and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until spinach turns bright green. Do not cover, or the spinach with turn dark (it will still taste good, however).

posted by Megan at 12:56 AM |