This stock is a great alternative to chicken or beef stock. Make use of the wilted vegetables in your refrigerator.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 large onions, chopped in large pieces
- 2 large leeks
- 3 stalks of celery, with leaves, chopped
- 5 carrots, washed but unpeeled, chopped
- 1 whole bulb of garlic
- 1 pound spinach or kale leaves, roughly chopped
- 1 pound white mushrooms (this is perfect for that bag of dried up mushrooms in your refrigerator)
- 10 black peppercorns
- 3 bay leaves
- 2 sprigs of rosemary
- 1 Tbs fresh thyme
- 1 cup parsley, chopped
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
- 2 quarts water
Direction
- Cut the leeks in half, lengthwise, pull apart and clean thoroughly to remove the mud.
- In a large pot heat the olive oil over medium heat.
- Add the onion and leeks and sauté until the onions just begin to turn gold.
- Break up the whole bulb of garlic into individual cloves, but don't chop.
- Add the garlic to the onions and leeks. Stir and cook for one minute.
- Place the celery and carrots in the pot. Stir and cook for one minute.
- Add the spinach or kale leaves, mushrooms, spices and water. The vegetables should be covered by water, if not add more water. Stir and cover.
- Raise the heat to high and bring the water to a boil.
- Immediately lower the heat and simmer the vegetables for one hour.
- Have ready a strainer and another large pot. You can use a colander lined with cheese cloth.
- Pour the stock into the strainer.
- After the stock has cooled you can pour into freezable containers. It will be ready whenever you need it.
Note: You can use the cooked vegetables for a soup. Purée them to make a creamy textured soup.
This recipe may vary depending upon what you have in your refrigerator. Do you have 3 carrots and 6 stalks of celery? Adjust to your needs.
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