and it's time to get back to canning.
I love vegetable stock and use it all the time.
It's a great way to incorporate more veggies into our meals
sneaky style, plus it adds great flavor in place of plain water.
I was looking around on the internet for different versions of stock
and came across a roasted version,
I've recently decided I like the flavor of roasted veggies.
Usually for dinner I will cut up a few different kinds of vegetables
into chunks, drizzle them with olive oil, and my favorite seasoning.
Then put it in the oven with the rack at the medium height, turn on the broiler,
then let bake for 7 minutes, stir, 7 minutes more, stir, 5 minutes, stir...
etc. until they are done to my liking. It usually takes about 20 minutes.
Something about roasting boosts the flavor exponentially.
So I thought I would try roasting my veggies for the stock.
Let me just say that I will never go back. So good!
So lets get started.
Roasted Vegetable Stock
Wash and chop the following:
1 pound carrots cut into 1 inch pieces
1 bunch celery cut into 1 inch pieces
3 medium onions cut into 1 inch pieces
2-3 bell peppers of your choice, I used green but red or yellow would be good too, cut into pieces
2 large tomatoes seeded and diced.
Place in oven on broil with the rack at medium height.
Roast for 7 minutes. Remove and stir.
Roast for another 7 minutes, stir, repeat.
Roast for 5 minutes, stir, repeat.
When the veggies are done to your liking, remove from oven.
Put roasted veggies into a large stock pot and cover with water.
Add the following:
3 cloves garlic
3 bay leaves
1 tsp dry whole thyme
8 peppercorns
Stir and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 1-2 hours to reduce the stock.
Scoop a few cups at a time and place in your blender. Puree.
Then pour through a strainer or cheesecloth to remove large chunks.
Don't discard the chunks.
I saved these and use them in my noodles for homemade chicken noodle soup,
and replaced some of the liquid for the veggies in my wheat thin recipe for a veggie cracker.
Very good!
You will have a lot of the chunky stuff,
so put it in your cupcake tins to freeze individual portions.
When they are frozen, pop them out and put in ziplock bags to use later.
Easy, and nothing wasted.
Pour the strained stock into washed and prepared jars and attach lids and rings.
Remember to slightly heat the lids in simmering water to soften the rubber.
Put jars into a pressure canner.
Because there are more veggies than just tomatoes, you can't use a boiling water cannner.
Follow manufacturers instructions for pressure canning.
Process jars: 30 minutes for pints, 35 minutes for quarts at 10 pounds of pressure.
Let pressure come down naturally.
Remove from canner and let sit on a wire rack for 24 hours to cool and allow the jars to finish sealing.
Once the jars are done, lable, and add to your pantry.
Did you know that you can remove the rings after the jars are sealed?
The lid keeps everything protected, and you can re-use the rings on another jar.
Sometime I forget to remove the rings, but either way is OK.
Roasted Vegetable stock.
So good.
Need some ideas on how to use it:
Use it place of some of the liquid in Garden Breadsticks.
Use it in place of all or part of water making chili, stew, or other soups.
Use it to replace all or part of the water when cooking rice or pasta.
Use in place for all or part of the water in Artisan Pizza Dough.
Or in Artisan Cheesey Bread Sticks.
Or in Artisan Bread.
Really, you can use it just about anywhere to replace the water in a recipe.
Instant flavor and nutritional boost!
Yummm....
