Roasted Vegetable Stock

Vegetable stock is incredibly versatile and it’s very easy to make your own. You can use it in soups and stews, sauces and for poaching fish or meat (click here to see some of my recipes using stock). I have two methods for making veg stock; one is extremely quick and totally delicious and this one takes a little longer to create a deeper flavour that’s wonderful in soups. As long as you have onion and carrot you can add leek tops, celery, mushrooms or turnips.

INGREDIENTS
1 large onion or 2 small ones
green part of 3 leeks
3 large carrots
1/2 head of garlic
2 bay leaves
bunch of parsley or rosemary
125ml olive oil
2 tsp salt
1/4 black peppercorns
1tbsp white wine (optional)
2 litres of water

• Chop all the vegetables into similar sized pieces (keep the skin on the onions). Put all the veg into a roasting tray then drizzle with olive oil and toss everything to coat then grind over with salt. Pop into a 200°c (180°c fan) for 25 minutes.

• Take the vegetables out of the oven and tip into a large pot over a medium high heat. Once the pan is hot add the wine and cook for a minute to burn off the alcohol then turn down the heat to low, slowly add the water, salt and peppercorns then cook for 2-3 hours.
• Strain the stock through a sieve and decant into sterilized jars, seal and keep in the fridge for up to 3 weeks.