How to make basic vegetable stock

Vegetable stock, it's so easy and gives every risotto, stew, pasta sauce and any vegetarian dish that extra flavor. It's a great way to empty your crisper drawer of your fridge. Leftover vegetables, like fennel, leek, carrot and parsley stems can be used in this stock or any other stock for that matter.

Ingredients needed to make a basic vegetable stock

• half a leek
• 2 carrots
• 1 onion
• few celery stalks
• 1 fennel bulb
• a few parsley stems
• a few rosemary sprigs
• a few thyme sprigs
• 3 bay leaves
• a few peppercorns
• 4 liter water

Start off with the veggies. There is no need to peel the onion and carrots, chop all of the veggies up. It really doesn’t matter how you do this, you’re gonna throw them out after they gave their taste to the water anyway. The fastest and easiest way to do so is throwing the chopped veggies in a colander, all at once and then rinse with cold water. You can simple toss all the ingredients in a large pan and simmer it for a few hours. We like our stocks richer, so we like to saute all the veggies first to enhance the flavor. Make sure the vegetables don't start to brown, just a few minutes to get that extra smell and flavor. How to make vegetable stock ADD the sprigs of rosemary, thyme and parsley. Also add the peppercorns and bay leaves. POUR cold water in the pan and cover with a lid. Let it simmer on low heat for at least 1,5 hours. The longer it’s on the stove, the more flavor you will have in the end. If you have a cheesecloth, use it to drain the vegetable stock. When you don’t have a cheesecloth, you can use a fine sieve to drain. Now it's ready to use any way you like!