Quick vegetable stock
This vegetable stock is ideal base for a vegetable soup or to flavor a risotto while being able to use great tasting vegetables of poor looks, or vegetable odds and ends.
Instructions
Place onion, carrot an celery, together with the garlic in a food processor. Process for a couple of minutes until finely chopped.
Heat olive oil in a pot then add the vegetables, season with salt, and cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. This will strengthen the flavors.
Pour in water then add bay leaf and peppercorns. Bring the liquid to the boil and cook for 5-6 minutes.
Let the stock stand for 5-6 minutes more and strain. It is ready to use.
Notes
For a different flavor, try substituting onion with leeks, or bay leaf with a sprig of fresh thyme, and, apart from the base of onion, carrot and celery, you can add all sort of vegetable trimmings and ends to the stock: green beans, fennel, parsnip, celery root; anything vegetable at hand. We have seen more than a savvy cook using vegetable peeling, washed, to prepare this stock.
Skinny soup
On a diet? Try the soup version of the vegetable stock. Follow the instructions for the quick vegetable stock but, using whole onions, carrots and celery, no trimmings. Once the liquid is boiling, let the soup boil for 10 minutes, turn heat off and stand for 5-10 minutes. Do not strain but remove bay leaf and peppercorns before serving.
If you grate the vegetables instead of nearly reducing them to pulp with a food processor, they will retain the more flavor and the soup will have a nicer texture.
The soup is really low calorie so you can have a bowl of skinny soup whenever you feel hunger pains, as if you where on the cabbage soup diet.This recipe is suitable for a low calorie, low fat, low carb, or Dukan diet.
Source
Freezes well.
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