The wind is blowing hard and cold rain is moving in. It's a dreary winter day that does little to invite outdoor activity. It's time to get started in the garden. Yesterday was the perfect day, warm, no wind, lots of sunshine, but we took down the Christmas lights and ran errands. In the evening we made beef soup in the kitchen and the boys grilled sirloin rounds they'd been marinating for two days out at the fire ring.
I'm finally feeling better and getting over another cold, but I still don't feel like braving the weather outside. There is so much to do, but it can wait. I have some leeway in getting the ground ready for planting and I plan to plant most things later than I did last year. It's a good time to be in the kitchen.
I decided to experiment with making vegetable broth from the peels and trimmings of vegetables I'm cutting up for soup.
I made up a cheesecloth bag for the celery ends and outer onion layers. The dry onion skin is especially good for adding color and flavor to a broth, but you wouldn't want find it in a spoonful of soup. While I was at it, I added a few bay leaves. I rarely use bay in soups or sauces because it's such a pain finding and fishing it out it when the dish is ready.
The top ends of the celery tend to be dry and the bottoms have a stronger, sometimes slightly bitter flavor. We mainly cut these parts off because we've gotten citified and consider them dirty or unsightly. My mom just threw them into the soup and nobody even noticed.
This old bamboo implement has been with me for a long time. Plastic spoons have too much flex and get even worse after being in boiling liquid. I use this--I'll call it a spoon because I don't know its real name--spoon to press the remaining broth from the cheesecloth bag, to press more juice from the vegetables in the colander and many other things, including stirring bread dough. An entire set of bamboo implements is on my wish list. Bamboo spoons are perfect for tasting because they don't get hot like stainless steel.
Usually, by the time my soup is ready, my veggie stock is also ready and I simply stir it in. Otherwise I let the stock cool, pour it into a jar and refrigerate. Mason jars are another kitchen convenience. I keep lots of them around for uses other than canning and they do come in handy. Plus, when our daughter Melissa comes to visit, she likes her iced sweet tea in a Mason jar. By the way, although we tend to call them "Mason" jars, all of mine are Ball brand. When I was growing up we called them fruit jars.
This is a perfect day to be in the kitchen.
Stephen
I'm finally feeling better and getting over another cold, but I still don't feel like braving the weather outside. There is so much to do, but it can wait. I have some leeway in getting the ground ready for planting and I plan to plant most things later than I did last year. It's a good time to be in the kitchen.
I decided to experiment with making vegetable broth from the peels and trimmings of vegetables I'm cutting up for soup.
The next steps are simple: place in a pan, cover with water and bring to a boil. Once the water is boiling, I reduce the heat slightly so it continues at a light boil (you know, smaller bubbles, less violent churning) for about an hour. I keep an eye on it so it doesn't boil dry. At the end of an hour, I reduce the heat to a simmer, add water if needed and cover the pan, cooking for at least another hour. When making broth, the longer it cooks, the better. Just don't burn it.
This is my well-worn brush I use for washing carrots and potatoes before peeling when I want to use the peels for broth. After use I rinse it with hot water, shake it dry and put it away. Once a week or so we run it through the dishwasher just to be safe.
The brush scrubs off the dirty outer layer of skin, leaving almost all of the nutrients and flavor in the peels. On carrots even the butt ends can be scrubbed clean and used in the broth.
The top ends of the celery tend to be dry and the bottoms have a stronger, sometimes slightly bitter flavor. We mainly cut these parts off because we've gotten citified and consider them dirty or unsightly. My mom just threw them into the soup and nobody even noticed.
Next I tried simply putting the trimmings into a pot and cooking them the same way. This batch included potato peels (I rarely peel my potatoes but I was making potatoes au gratin as a side dish) and large carrot butts. In order to really get the most out of the carrots I had to cook the broth for an extra hour. In retrospect I probably should had cut them into smaller pieces.
After all the boiling I turned off the heat and let the broth steep for awhile before pouring it through a colander. This broth came out nice and dark because of the onion skins and potato peels. The stock is highly concentrated and I add it to the broth in the soup.
I found the cheesecloth method added an unnecessary step. In the future I will use the cloth bag for adding the flavor of fresh and dried herbs like rosemary and bay leaf to my soups and sauces and use the colander method for making stock.
This old bamboo implement has been with me for a long time. Plastic spoons have too much flex and get even worse after being in boiling liquid. I use this--I'll call it a spoon because I don't know its real name--spoon to press the remaining broth from the cheesecloth bag, to press more juice from the vegetables in the colander and many other things, including stirring bread dough. An entire set of bamboo implements is on my wish list. Bamboo spoons are perfect for tasting because they don't get hot like stainless steel.
Usually, by the time my soup is ready, my veggie stock is also ready and I simply stir it in. Otherwise I let the stock cool, pour it into a jar and refrigerate. Mason jars are another kitchen convenience. I keep lots of them around for uses other than canning and they do come in handy. Plus, when our daughter Melissa comes to visit, she likes her iced sweet tea in a Mason jar. By the way, although we tend to call them "Mason" jars, all of mine are Ball brand. When I was growing up we called them fruit jars.
This is a perfect day to be in the kitchen.
Stephen
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