Vegetable Stock

Outlander Kitchen

Vegetable stock is a basic ingredient that, being a meat-eater, I rarely make at home. Chicken stock is my go-to for soups, stews, and sauces, but this is a full-flavored vegetarian stock that you could use in any recipe. The best part is that vegetable stocks cook up very quickly in comparison to meat stocks; you don't have to let this simmer all day!

It tends toward sweetness, which I think it because of the leeks and the fennel. You can customize it with other flavoring ingredients (some options included in the book are kombu and sun dried tomato) if you have a specific recipe in mind, or you can make the base recipe and freeze it in small portions for future use. Having stock available is an easy shortcut for a week night sauce.

You can find the full recipe here: http://outlanderkitchen.com/posts/claires-vegetable-stock-from-doa

The following nutrition information includes all the vegetables, which are strained out; exactly how much remains in the stock is not something I am equipped to measure!

Captions

[00:00]: [Music]
[00:05]: hello and welcome to cooking books with
[00:07]: heather today we're going to be making a
[00:10]: basic recipe sort of a staple recipe
[00:13]: from outlander kitchen teresa carl
[00:15]: sanders's cookbook
[00:18]: and we're making it
[00:20]: because we want to make another recipe
[00:22]: that includes it
[00:23]: but it's just a good basic
[00:26]: vegetable stock you can use it in place
[00:28]: of chicken stock in any recipe if you
[00:31]: wanted to
[00:32]: make it more vegetarian vegan
[00:36]: of course
[00:37]: depending on the other ingredients but
[00:39]: you know
[00:40]: a lot of recipes include chicken stock
[00:42]: but
[00:43]: no other meat so it's something that you
[00:45]: can can substitute
[00:48]: she has a whole section of basic recipes
[00:51]: and this one's out of that section so
[00:53]: i've already prepped everything and
[00:57]: i've got my large stock pot it's
[00:59]: probably way too large for what we need
[01:01]: over medium heat
[01:03]: uh
[01:04]: just it's been sitting there getting hot
[01:06]: for a while so it's ready to put all of
[01:07]: the ingredients in
[01:09]: so
[01:11]: it's got a little bit of oil in it i did
[01:13]: measure
[01:14]: just to be as close to the recipe as
[01:16]: possible
[01:17]: so we're going to add this is leeks
[01:22]: they're prepared pretty much the exact
[01:24]: same way that we prepared them for the
[01:28]: chicken and leek soup that we've made
[01:30]: here
[01:31]: and i will link above
[01:34]: this is
[01:36]: just some carrots and some onions
[01:39]: no carrots and celery
[01:42]: uh that i've chopped in her book she
[01:45]: also has some sort of basic knife skills
[01:47]: section and when she says chop she needs
[01:50]: about half inch
[01:52]: squares this is close enough it's a
[01:55]: little bit smaller than i normally would
[01:57]: cut up things for a meat stock but meat
[02:01]: stock cooks
[02:02]: a really long time and it's so we don't
[02:04]: want them to get super super mushy in
[02:06]: the meat stock but this vegetable stock
[02:08]: cooks up very quickly
[02:12]: this i was kind of interested um
[02:15]: it is
[02:16]: fennel
[02:17]: um
[02:18]: i'm hoping there's quite a lot of it in
[02:20]: here and i chopped up um everything
[02:22]: including sort of the frontie bits at
[02:24]: the end because it doesn't really matter
[02:26]: we're going to strain everything out
[02:28]: in the end
[02:31]: and i had never seen fennel measured in
[02:33]: stalks before usually
[02:36]: it's measured in bulbs but that's what
[02:38]: she said uh it was basically one bowl of
[02:40]: family
[02:41]: and so we're just going to
[02:44]: cook this
[02:46]: at medium heat
[02:48]: about 10 minutes she says um
[02:51]: oh there's some there's another
[02:53]: ingredient i forgot
[02:55]: but we're going to cook it for about 10
[02:56]: minutes
[02:57]: just uh
[02:59]: until everything is soft but i forgot
[03:01]: we're also going to add a little bit of
[03:03]: mushrooms i um you could have mushrooms
[03:06]: or just the stems i have some of both
[03:09]: here i was making mushrooms for another
[03:12]: recipe
[03:13]: last night and so i just saved the stems
[03:17]: and a few of the mushroom pieces to make
[03:19]: up the amount that i needed so we're
[03:21]: just gonna
[03:23]: this is why i chose the large pot
[03:25]: because it's a lot of vegetables
[03:27]: so we're just gonna cook this
[03:30]: over medium heat
[03:33]: until um they're soft
[03:36]: i think it's going to take more than 10
[03:37]: minutes but i'll let you know
[03:40]: while this is cooking she says to do
[03:42]: this later but i'm just going to do it
[03:43]: now
[03:45]: to get it done with because it doesn't
[03:47]: really matter if i take it directly
[03:49]: from one place to the other so
[03:53]: that's going
[03:54]: it's not sizzling very much right now
[03:56]: that's gonna take a while um i have a
[03:59]: small cast iron pan i happen to remember
[04:02]: that i have this sort of griddle pan
[04:04]: that i think we got from my husband's
[04:06]: family
[04:08]: i don't know where it came from
[04:11]: but it's
[04:13]: decently seasoned and i thought it was
[04:15]: probably time for me to take care of it
[04:17]: a little bit better and maybe use it
[04:19]: so
[04:20]: we're going to eat this on
[04:22]: medium high heat i believe let me verify
[04:27]: um
[04:28]: yep
[04:30]: medium high heat so i'm gonna wait until
[04:31]: this is hot
[04:33]: once it's hot we're going to cook this
[04:36]: onion
[04:38]: with the skin on and everything just
[04:40]: half this half an onion
[04:43]: in this on this pan so which is why i
[04:46]: chose this pan that doesn't have high
[04:47]: sides i don't need them for this
[04:50]: not putting any oil on it
[04:52]: besides you know what i sort of used to
[04:54]: season it with
[04:56]: i washed it a little bit just to make
[04:57]: sure it was okay and put a little thin
[04:60]: [Music]
[05:02]: bit of oil on it just to season it a
[05:04]: little bit
[05:05]: because i hadn't used it in a long time
[05:08]: so yeah when this is hot i'll show you
[05:10]: what we're gonna do with it
[05:12]: oh that's pretty hot already
[05:14]: so what i'm gonna do is put this face
[05:16]: down
[05:19]: on my griddle pan my grill pan
[05:22]: it's a grill
[05:24]: um
[05:25]: and we're gonna cook that at medium high
[05:27]: heat for five to seven minutes or until
[05:30]: blackened
[05:31]: blackened is
[05:33]: the goal here so
[05:36]: don't worry
[05:38]: all right
[05:39]: so it's been about five minutes i'm
[05:41]: gonna call it done
[05:42]: this is what it looks like
[05:44]: um and we're looking for some of that
[05:46]: really blackened color
[05:48]: so while our vegetables are still
[05:50]: getting softened i've got one more thing
[05:52]: to do
[05:54]: and that is to make a bouquet garni we
[05:56]: did this with cheesecloth also in the
[05:59]: cockalinki recipe for from the outlander
[06:02]: kitchen cookbook
[06:05]: this time i'm going to use i have a
[06:06]: large
[06:08]: t-ball i will use it mostly for mulling
[06:11]: spices when we're making a large batch
[06:13]: of mold cider
[06:15]: so i'm going to use this for that
[06:18]: it um it opens up has a little
[06:21]: latch and you can attach it
[06:24]: to a handle so you don't lose it
[06:26]: although losing it's not a huge deal
[06:29]: for something like this
[06:31]: so we're going to add into here
[06:36]: all of the ingredients
[06:38]: that she requests
[06:41]: some bay leaves
[06:45]: some
[06:47]: cloves of garlic i did take the peels
[06:49]: off of these that's not entirely
[06:51]: necessary
[06:54]: now this is an optional ingredient it's
[06:55]: a piece of dried mushroom this happens
[06:58]: to be porcini
[07:00]: any
[07:02]: uh any dried mushroom that you like will
[07:04]: do and it's really just a relatively
[07:06]: small piece although it's
[07:08]: one of the larger pieces in the batch
[07:10]: but it's not like you know a whole cup
[07:12]: of them or anything so just a little bit
[07:15]: there are a couple of other optional
[07:16]: ingredients that you can add here um
[07:19]: you could add
[07:20]: a red chili pepper
[07:24]: it doesn't say dried so whatever a whole
[07:26]: red chili pepper
[07:27]: a sun-dried tomato not an oil
[07:31]: or
[07:32]: some
[07:34]: kombu dried kilt so all of that will
[07:37]: sort of add a bit of a different flavor
[07:39]: to it
[07:40]: since we are going to be using this for
[07:43]: mushroom soup i decided to only use the
[07:45]: dried mushroom here we also have some
[07:48]: black peppercorns whole
[07:52]: and then we have a few fresh things
[07:55]: quite a bit of
[07:57]: fresh parsley
[08:01]: and some fresh thyme which i'm going to
[08:03]: kind of
[08:05]: just stuff in here because it doesn't
[08:07]: really matter
[08:10]: i'm probably going to
[08:12]: put those bay leaves in half and then
[08:17]: close it up
[08:19]: so we're all ready
[08:23]: when we're ready to add this
[08:27]: it goes in with the onion later
[08:30]: it's been
[08:32]: i think more than 10 minutes at this
[08:33]: point and they are starting to soften
[08:37]: starting to get
[08:38]: a little cooked and i'm going to call
[08:40]: that
[08:42]: fine for this stage
[08:45]: and the next thing we do is add water
[08:48]: because we're making a stock
[08:51]: so i'm going to add
[08:53]: this and one more
[08:56]: in the end we're supposed to have about
[08:58]: two quarts of stock and so two quarts of
[09:01]: water
[09:04]: so there we go
[09:05]: and we're supposed to turn this up to
[09:06]: medium high and bring it to a boil
[09:10]: okay i turned mine up because i was
[09:12]: being a little impatient um
[09:15]: but now i've turned it back down to
[09:16]: medium high
[09:17]: and it's still boiling so i think we're
[09:19]: good
[09:20]: but now we turn it down to a simmer
[09:23]: she says low
[09:25]: i'm gonna go with
[09:27]: that for now
[09:28]: um which is sort of like a medium low
[09:32]: on my stove and we're gonna add the
[09:35]: burnt onion the
[09:37]: brule as she calls it
[09:40]: um and then
[09:42]: we're going to put
[09:44]: our
[09:45]: bouquet garni in here and i'm just gonna
[09:48]: hook it around
[09:51]: the handle
[09:53]: hook it to itself
[09:54]: so it'll be easy to take out
[09:58]: just kind of make sure it's in there as
[09:59]: much as it can be
[10:02]: both of those things and we're going to
[10:04]: try to keep this at a simmer
[10:07]: um
[10:08]: so not too high not too low she doesn't
[10:11]: say a low simmer so just you know a
[10:13]: simmer
[10:14]: so put some stuff in there i might turn
[10:16]: it up for a little bit
[10:18]: but this simmers for 30 minutes and then
[10:20]: you've got your vegetable stock so we'll
[10:22]: be back in about 30 minutes to show you
[10:24]: what we have to do with it when that
[10:26]: part's done
[10:28]: okay so our vegetable stock has been
[10:30]: simmering for a little over 30 minutes
[10:33]: well it's been in the pan for over 30
[10:35]: minutes it took a while to get it at a
[10:37]: good simmer so i'll let it go a little
[10:39]: bit longer than that and in the end i
[10:41]: had to have my stove at about medium
[10:43]: heat not much lower i'm gonna turn that
[10:46]: off now just to show you what it was at
[10:48]: on medium
[10:50]: and now we are going to strain it
[10:53]: so
[10:56]: i have
[10:57]: my usual setup i have a glass
[11:01]: measuring cup just because this fits
[11:02]: nicely in it my strainer
[11:05]: and
[11:06]: she says several layers of cheesecloth
[11:09]: or a clean
[11:11]: cotton
[11:12]: or linen
[11:13]: dishcloth is fine as well
[11:17]: i have about four layers of this
[11:19]: cheesecloth and it has been dampened
[11:22]: and i just made sure i
[11:24]: cut it and then it was a little small so
[11:26]: i just put them separate ways like
[11:28]: opposite ways so everything's covered
[11:30]: with at least two layers
[11:33]: and now
[11:34]: we just
[11:36]: ladle and this is what i like to do
[11:38]: because otherwise
[11:40]: i spill so if i put the
[11:43]: measuring cup right up against
[11:45]: the pan
[11:46]: and go that way
[11:48]: i don't spill
[11:50]: drip quite as much
[11:52]: and these vegetables are not super um
[11:57]: soft but there i mean i would say
[11:59]: they're cooked and the i made sure the
[12:01]: carrots were
[12:02]: [Music]
[12:03]: soft so
[12:05]: so we do this
[12:06]: and then she says to let me use this for
[12:08]: it to gently press the vegetables
[12:12]: to make sure you get everything out
[12:15]: and this is going to take
[12:17]: several
[12:20]: ladleings and i'm going to have to take
[12:22]: all of this out and put it in a bag to
[12:24]: go in the trash and all of that so
[12:27]: um
[12:28]: that is it i'm just going to keep doing
[12:30]: that until we're done we can
[12:32]: take out the
[12:33]: the ball
[12:36]: the bouquet garni
[12:38]: and
[12:38]: the onion separately that's fine
[12:43]: all right so just so you can tell this
[12:45]: is a nice
[12:48]: sort of brownish
[12:50]: vegetable stock because we got some of
[12:51]: that flavor from the
[12:55]: onion that we browned
[12:58]: and and from the mushroom probably
[12:60]: helped that a lot too
[13:03]: there's no salt in this we didn't put
[13:05]: any salt in it so it's not going to
[13:07]: taste great immediately out of
[13:10]: the pot but when you use it
[13:12]: obviously you'll add salt
[13:15]: [Music]
[13:23]: and so you can keep it in the
[13:24]: refrigerator for about a week you can
[13:26]: freeze it um i like to freeze stock in
[13:29]: sort of small
[13:31]: one cup
[13:32]: maybe it's a half cup half cup to one
[13:34]: cup containers and then i can just use
[13:36]: it for
[13:37]: a pan sauce or something like that
[13:40]: but we're going to use about half of
[13:41]: this
[13:43]: for another recipe
[13:44]: so if you enjoyed watching me make this
[13:47]: please hit the thumbs up
[13:50]: hit the subscribe button and come back
[13:52]: and watch what we make with this
[13:56]: [Music]