Recipe: Stocks - the first step in dealing with a glut!

Uses carrot, onion, celery and any other old veg (except brassicas) from the allotment.

One of the best ways of using up a glut from the allotment is to make soups. And the basis of any good soup is a good stock. So the first step in dealing with a glut is to make some good stock!

Whenever I have a roast chicken or a leg of lamb or some whole trout, I keep the bones afterwards and put them in the slow cooker with some carrots, onion and celery. (I don’t like eating celery, but grew some this year and froze it so that I always have a few stalks available for stocks and soups.) I also add any other veg that is hanging round the kitchen, but is past its use by date. That old wilting beetroot or parsnip at the bottom of the fridge, maybe the stalks from some parsley, some pea pods, the green bits discarded from leeks, in fact anything except brassicas, which can make it a bit smelly.  I throw in a bay leaf or two, add water and after 24 hours in the slow cooker I strain it off and have a beautiful stock.

If I want a vegetarian stock I just leave out the bones. (I also make stock with the liquid left over after boiling a hock of ham, and find it a superb base for cooking beans.)

I have found that my stocks usually freeze well. The exception is fish stock. I tried once, but after a month or two in the freezer is smelt a bit odd, so I threw it away.  It was good used fresh though. 

But otherwise, whenever I have a glut, I simply get one of my stocks out of the freezer and make soups. Beats an oxo cube any day!