Vegetable Stock

There are a number of different stocks that are used in cooking, and vegetable stock is one of them. I use a lot of chicken stock, as I just mentioned in my recent blog of yesterday, but today I'm making a vegetable stock to use for cooking rice, quinoa, and other grains. The basic stocks for cooking are; veal & beef, chicken, fish,  legumes, and vegetable. Veal bones are superior than beef bones. Stock in French is called fond. So, a chicken stock would be a fond de volet, veal is fond de veau, etc.

Usually after the first of the year I make a beef stock or veal stock for sauces. Sometimes I buy low sodium organic chicken stock when I'm lazy.  I usually make a vegetable stock also. I often have left over shells from shrimp for a fish stock, but the local market also has fish bones to make a fish stock.

looks funky but tastes great

charred onion

Geri bought carrots the other day at the farmer's market, didn't wrap them, and now they're limb, so I'm going to use those, an onion, and some celery, and make a half a gallon of vegetable stock. A good thing to do with the onion is to peel it and roast it on the one of the burners. It adds a lot of flavor to the stock. Makes the house smell wonderful too. Check out the photos. In this veggie stock I added some spinach from the garden, and a tablespoon of herbs of Provence, and bring it to a boil, and let it simmer for 30 minutes.

This vegetable stock and the fond de legumes is a great alternative to using beef, chicken, fish or veal bones to add flavor to your grains or sauces.

Food Consumption Today:

Breakfast:
1 cup of cereal with soy milk
1 banana

Lunch:
Leftovers from last evening including: 1/2 tomato, 8 olives, wild rice, 1 pita bread, a little Feta cheese, a couple of brussel sprouts.

Dinner: egg salad sandwiches on a toasted herb slab...includes: eggs, mayo, mustard, capers, kalamata olives, celery, diced green onions, s & p, iceberg lettuce.

Snacks: Banana, nuts, raising, blue agave drink, hard boiled egg, carrot sticks

Exercise: 5 miles street walking

Notes: I went out to my friends' greenhouse and farm to give them their X Mas present, and on the way back all I could think of was pizza, a big fat slice of Sicilian pie. The craving was overwhelming. I didn't eat lunch until 1:15 PM and I was starving. I thought; "If I have another nut or raisin I'm going to shoot myself."


Peace,

Make Food, Not War