INGREDIENTS

INSTRUCTIONS

Melt butter or margarine in stock pot.  Add ginger and shallots; saute
until ginger is tender, about 5 min.  Add carrots and sweet potatoes
and half the broth.  Simmer, covered, until vegetables are very
tender, about 40 min. Cool slightly. (BIG BATCH TAKES MUCH LONGER TO
COOK AND COOL.)  Remove solids from broth; process or blend, in
batches, until  very  smooth. Return mixture to broth.  Add remaining
broth, nutmeg and  curry powder.  If freezing, prepare to this point.
Cool.  Freeze plastic containers.  Label re: proportionate amount of
milk to add before serving (I just  guess, taste, guess again).  To
serve, heat mixture to very hot/just under simmering; add the milk  or
substitute.  Heat through without boiling.  Because it is relatively
messy, with lots of peeling, chopping, etc.  I make the big batch and
freeze it in meal-sized portions.  It's a  universally enjoyed recipe
and always delicious on a cold day.  homemade vegetable stock This is a
descended-from-peasants recipe (my  kids say it's Stone Soup).  I think
of it as my grandmother's theory,  "never throw away anything edible"
combined with my anti-mom theory,  "never use leftovers and scraps to
make anything called pudding!".  Step 1: As you do your daily cooking,
keep a scrap bag in freezer.  Include in it the clean, fresh or nearly
fresh remnants of your  vegetable-cooking. Also throw in "veggies about
to go wrong" like  spinach or celery or scallions no longer quite fresh
enough to retain  their texture when cooked in non-soup recipes; make
sure to include  an onion-type thing; also save seeds and cores from
peppers, carrot  peelings, broccoli stems. DON'T OVER-DO ANY SINGLE
VEGGIE: IF ALL IT  CONTAINS IS BROCCOLI OR ASPARAGUS, YOUR STOCK WILL
BE DREADFUL.  I  also sometimes save and freeze too-good-to-throw-out
cooking water  from vegetable boiling. Use to augment the water, not
the veggies.  The best add-it is the pulp left over from making
vegetable juice.  Step 2:When you have about a food-storage-bagful or
so, put the frozen  scraps in a huge, preferably non-stick pot.  (Check
your fridge for  any extra goodies.)  Add water until nearly full.  Add
some soy sauce  (for color and saltiness); if you have herbs growing
outside, rinse  and toss in a fistful.  If not, toss in a couple of bay
leaves and a  little thyme &/or spicy vinegar, etc.  Step 3:Bring the
pot to a boil; cover and bring to gentle simmer.  The only bad thing
about veg. stock vs. chicken is that it takes much  longer to cook.  I
start early in the morning, cook all day.  If it's  cold enough outside
(almost year-round here), I put the pot on the  stoop to cool. Or let
it cool slightly, strain, refrigerate until  cool enough to freeze.
Note: I freeze in tofu tubs that're about 1/2  gal. size.  I put in
about 6 c. stock, enough for most soup recipes.  Of course, you could
make smaller batches if freezer space is short  or you only need the
stock for tomorrow's dinner.  Posted to JEWISH-FOOD digest V96 #81
Date: Tue, 19 Nov 1996 04:12:14 -0500  From:   Donna Himelfarb at
mark.cohen@relex.com

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