Vegan MoFo: Homemade Vegetable Broth

I had been saving vegetable scraps in the freezer in order to make broth and then LoLo posted her Vegetable Broth recipe on Friday, so I knew that would be a weekend project. I had in the freezer some leftover onion ends and skins, stems from chard, collards, and broccoli rabe, and some green pepper detritus: wilting in the fridge I had some carrot greens, 2 bunches of parsley, and a whole bok choi. I added more roughly chopped onions and their skins, a couple of potatoes, some more wilting peppers, leek tops, a whole celery root going soft, and a pear. Plus a handful of garlic cloves, bay leaves and peppercorns.


After I came back form the farmer's market I added new carrot tops, some celery leaves, some old thyme and basil that were drying out, stems and all. Overall this was simmering away on the stove for about 6 hours, or while I did all the other puttering about I needed to do.

I forgot to get cheesecloth and didn't feel like cutting up shirts again, so I strained the broth in batches in the french press. I had about a gallon!

I decided to use it as a base for the VCon French Lentil Soup With Tarragon (notice I did the prep nicely!)

Homemade broth made a serious difference!