Basic Vegetable Broth Recipe

As someone once said, if you can't make your own broth, just use water. But there are so many recipes for homemade vegetable stock, where to begin? This is the recipe I keep going back to because it's quick to make, serves as a great backdrop to a variety of main ingredients, and freezes well. Bottom line, it's better than water and worth the relatively short amount of time it takes to make it.

My Paleo Marin Rating: 5 Persimmons

How to Make Basic Vegetable Broth:

Ingredients for the Broth:

1 onion, skin on, sliced in half

2-3 carrots, sliced horizontally in large chunks

3-4 celery stalks

Leftover veggies such as green parts of leeks, English pea shells, etc. 

8 sprigs fresh thyme

1-2 bay leaves

1 small bunch of fresh curly parsley

12 whole black peppercorns

Water to cover the vegetables +2"

How to Cook the Vegetable Broth:

1. In a large soup pot, add the prepared ingredients and water. Over medium high heat, bring everything to a point just when bubbles appear around the edges and steam rises from the top. Turn down heat and simmer gently for about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Stir occassionally. 

2. When cool enough to handle, strain into another pot. Put in quart-sized containers and freeze what you don't need right away. Keeps for about a week in the fridge and 3 months in the freezer.

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*My Paleo Marin Rating between 1-5 Persimmons

I try out these recipes so you don't have to (and modify them for Paleo where possible). The rating will reflect my opinion of the final result in terms of taste, ease of preparation, nutrition, and sometimes, cost.