Vegetable stocks?

Question

My new gf is vegetarian, I am trying to figure out how to make a vegetable stock that actually taste like something!

Chicken and beef stock taste so rich and delicious (I am not vegetarian myself). I have yet to make a veg stock that really tasted like anything more than glorified water!

Please help! I need a veg stock that has FLAVOR in it!

Answer 1

Here is my absolute favorite recipe for veggie stock, which I got from Bon Appetit a long time ago:

1/2 lb portabella mushrooms, caps and stems cut into 1-inch pieces
1 lb shallots, left unpeeled, quartered
1 lb carrots, cut into 2-inch pieces
2 red bell peppers, cut into 1-inch pieces
6 fresh flat-leaf parsley sprigs (including stems)
5 fresh thyme sprigs
4 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup dry white wine
2 bay leaves
1 cup canned crushed tomatoes
2 qt water

Preheat oven to 425°F.
Toss together mushrooms, shallots, carrots, bell peppers, parsley and thyme sprigs, garlic, and oil in a large flameproof roasting pan. Roast in middle of oven, turning occasionally, until vegetables are golden, 30 to 40 minutes.

Transfer vegetables with slotted spoon to a tall narrow 6-quart stockpot. Set roasting pan across 2 burners, then add wine and deglaze pan by boiling over moderate heat, stirring and scraping up brown bits, 2 minutes. Transfer to stockpot and add bay leaves, tomatoes, and water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, 45 minutes. Pour through a large fine sieve into a large bowl, pressing on and discarding solids, then season with salt and pepper. Skim off fat.

Makes about 2 quarts, freezes well, and takes about half an hour to throw together.

Answer 2

2-3 lbs vegetable peels (enough to fill a 1 gallon zippy bag)
12 cups water
1 bay leaf
6-8 peppercorns
1 teaspoon salt

Empty the gallon baggie of veggie trimmings into a large stew pot or stock pot, along with the bay leaf and peppercorns.
Add 8 cups of water and see where your water level is. Remember it.
This is the point where you will refill after reducing. Go ahead and add the other 4 cups of water and the salt. Resist the urge to stir!
Bring to a nice simmer over high heat, then reduce heat to maintain the simmer.
Never ever stir! You can use the back of a wooden spoon to gently push the veggies down into the liquid every now and then, but don't stir. If you do, your stock will come out cloudy. By resisting the urge to stir, your stock will be crystal clear and beautiful. If it does cloud up, it's still good, just not nearly as pretty.
When the liquid has reduced by 4 cups, add another 4 cups of water and continue to simmer. Do this 2 more times, for a total of 3 times. You are essentially reducing the water 100% by reducing by a third three times.
After the final reduction, remove from heat and strain through a collander. Squeeze all of the stock out of the veggies, then discard the veggies.
Strain the stock through a sieve, and then strain again through a fine mesh. I use a permanent coffee filter for this step.
At this point, I pour the stock off into plastic cups in 8 ounce portions. Let cool completely at room temperature, then freeze. Cooling your stock off too quickly results in clouding.
When the stock is frozen, I pop each stock "cube" out of its cup, wrap it in parchment or wax paper, and put all the stock into a big gallon freezer bag.
To reconstitute, melt an 8 ounce portion of the frozen stock, add an equal amount of water and a teaspoon of salt. Stir well to dissolve the salt. The stock will keep in the fridge for up to a week.
You can use any type of peelings, roots, tops, skins... They have the most flavour.

Answer 3

Vegetable Stock

1 large leek, halved lengthwise with half the green part removed
3 baking potatoes, unpeeled
6 carrots, peeled
8 celery stalks
3 medium zucchini
2 large unpeeled onions quarted
1/2 lb. fresh mushrooms, quartered
1 whole head of garlic, unpeeled but crushed ( a chance to practice our
knife whacking skills :-)
10 black peppercorns
8 fresh thyme sprigs
8 fresh parsley sprigs
3 bay leaves

Cut the leek, potatoes, carrots, celery and zucchini in 1 inch pieces
In a large stockpot combine all the ingredients - add water until it is six
inches above the top of the vegetable. Bring to a boil, uncovers; reduce
heat, cover and simmer on hour, skim top if necessary
Remove cover after hour and simmer 45 minutes and then strain, pressing
vegetables with spoon to release their flavor

Answer 4

I don't follow a recipe, but I will share how I make mine...Take a full pot of water and add chopped garlic, onion, asparagus bottoms, broccoli stalks, scallions, carrots, celery bases, plus a bay leaf, some thyme and basil plus some salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer for about 2 hours, until liquid is reduced by half. If you want to add some nice color, throw in some onion skins while cooking! Strain and use!

Answer 5

Roasting the vegetables prior to making a stock will provide plenty of rich flavour. Not as much flavour as a meat stock, but more than an unroasted veg stock.

Answer 6

Imagine Foods makes pretty good vegetable stocks.

Pacific Foods also makes a good veggie broth.

Rapunzel makes a powdered veggie broth mix, and you can just make that a little stronger the label calls for.

You can also buy veggie bouillion cubes and use just a little less water than the package calls for.

Answer 7

big pan of water. half an onion, 1/4 cup of parsley stalks (save the leaves for cooking) 2 stalks of celery. LOTS AND LOTS OF GARLIC crushed but not chopped. 2 carrots. sprinkle of Tumeric (mostly for color, but it has a good flavor too). fresh crushed black pepper & fresh crushed white pepper, a bit of salt. simmer all day, periodically adding more water as it gets low. for the last hour put the lid on & don't add any more water.

Answer 8

There are several vegetable stocks at better markets that are fantastic. I forgot the brand name but one is called a vegetable cooking stock and it is very rich and hardy.

Answer 9

if you have a health food store around you, you can purchase some "no-chicken" chicken broth... 100% vegetarian. if you don't, then you can take the vegetable broth and add a bit more seasoning in it. i find that throwing some chopped onions, minced garlic, and using variations of salt, chili powder, cumin and coriander are enough to turn bland broth better.

Answer 10

I use peelings from onions, bell pepperes, carrots, and celery. I let it boil then add salt and margerine. when all this is cooked, Strain out the veggies, add some black pepper and you have a great veggie stock