Everything But the Kitchen Sink Broth

As a vegan, I cook with vegetable broth a lot.  I used to use (and sometimes still do in a pinch) store broth, but I always find two things: the broth is either really high in sodium or has no taste.  That is no good in my book. 

I recently starting making my own vegetable broth every Sunday.  This is good for several reasons:

1. I think that mine tastes better and I know that their is less sodium
2. It allows me to clean out my refrigerator (bonus!)
3. Since I have no where to donate soil from composting, I have started saving my vegetable scraps and using them in the broth (no waste!)
4. I can portion out broth to use throughout the week

There is no science to this, every week it is a little different.  Throughout the week, I store left over vegetable scraps in a large glass container in my refrigerator.  On Sunday, I pull everything the out plus any vegetables that have seen better days or I don't plan to use soon.  When making broth, it is less about the quality of the vegetables and more about the variations.  Needless to say, every week this broth is a little different based on what veggies I use, but every time I still find it better than store bought broth.

This week, here are the veggies I used:

• Mushrooms
• Peppers: Green and Red
• Whole White Onion
• Carrots
• Yellow Squash
• Asparagus
• Green Beans
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Red Potatoes
• Sweet Potato
• Celery (leave the leafs on!  They hold all the flavor)
• Leeks

I start by adding a little EVOO to a large pot.  I then wash all the veggies really well and then cut them up, but not too much.  I also don't peel them since most of the flavor and nutrients are held in the skin of the veggies.  I throw them all into the pot as I am cutting them up with the scraps that I have accumulated from the week and sautee them on low heat to begin releasing some of the flavors.  At this time, I also add about 1/3 cup of a dry white wine.

I then rough cut A LOT of parsley and throw it into the pot with 3 gloves of chopped garlic.  I add a bunch of spices including salt, black pepper, red pepper, oregano, tarragon, and bay leaves.  Get creative and use anything you love!  I next add 1/4 cup of soy sauce and 2-3 spoonfuls of tomato paste and 1 gallon of water (that is why you need a BIG pot).

Give it a good stir and bring it to a hard boil.  Once the water comes to a rolling boil reduce the meat to medium-low and cover.  Stir occasionally as it simmers for 1 hour.  I add a little more salt as I am cooking, but in all I probably only use about 3-4 tablespoons of salt ( I use coarse kosher salt).

After an hour, remove the pot from the heat.  In your sink, place another large pot under a fine colander.  You want to make sure to use a colander with very small holes for fine sifting.  I have one of the ones that just goes over the sink so I don't have to hold it. 

Strain the broth into the new pot.  I usually end up eating a bunch of the veggies that cooked in the broth.  For instance, last night I ate the carrots and potatoes...yum!  I toss the rest of the veggies.  I then split up the broth.  I start by laddling it into an ice cube tray.  I freeze many things this way including sauces and pestos.  Think of it as portion control for the single lady ;)

The portion of the ice cube size is perfect the amount of broth I would use for cooking a stir fry or other meals during the week.  Once I am done with that I separate it out into a couple of containers.  I freeze some for the week and put some in the refrigerator if I plan to make soup in the next few days (i.e. tonight I plan to make potato and leek soup...stay tuned!)

The result is a rich and delicious homemade veggie broth that is great for cooking with or for just adding some veggies and rice or pasta for a meal during the week!