Cascadian Farm Organic Goodness

Leeks are a fantastic vegetable in the winter time because they can be left in the ground until you're ready to eat them. They're a near essential in winter soups. Paired with a broth, a few other vegetables and a bit of cream to fill you up, leeks are sure to become a staple on your winter comfort food list.

What I don't like about leeks and particularly leeks in soups is that most recipes are only looking for the white and light green portion of the leek, discarding the rest.  In fact, most things that require peeling and pitting and seeding and juicing seem wasteful to me.  I like to repurpose.  The good news is that you can salvage the dark green portions along with your other vegetable waste and turn it into a flavorful vegetable broth that will act as the base for those same soups.

Start with the dark green portion of your leek.  Then chop both ends off of a large sweet onion, peel and save both the ends and the papery skin.  Chop half of it.  Remove the leafy tops and the bottom root ball of the celery.  Crush 8 to 10 cloves of garlic.

After heating 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large stockpot, add all of the vegetable scraps aside from the onion ends and skin and the celery root ball.  We can add those later.  Sauté the roughly chopped vegetables for 10 minutes until they sweat and soften up.

Then add your water, salt and the reserved portions of the onion and celery.

And add a bunch of thyme sprigs as well.  If you have fresh parsley, you could always toss that in for good measure.

Bring to a boil and simmer over low heat for 50 minutes to one hour.

I use a colander and a stainless steel bowl to strain my broth to be sure I don't end up cracking any of my glassware.  If the broth is cool enough, this shouldn't be a problem, though.

I do end up with a few thyme leaves floating around, but I'm not too worried about them.  If you're opposed to the thyme leaves, you could always strain the broth through cheesecloth to make sure all the vegetable pieces are removed.

Be sure to let the broth completely cool before placing it in the refrigerator or freezer.  Use this broth in all recipes that call for vegetable broth/stock.  You can also substitute it for chicken stock/broth in otherwise vegetarian-friendly recipes.  You may need to adjust the salt level a bit because chicken broth is generally saltier, especially if it comes from the supermarket and not from your kitchen.

Vegetable Broth

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 celery stalk, bottom and leafy top portion only (chop the leafy portion)

½ large onion, diced, including root ball and skin

Dark green tops of one leek, roughly chopped

8-10 cloves garlic, crushed

1 ½ teaspoons sea salt

3 quarts water

In a large pot heat the olive oil over medium heat.  Add the onion, garlic cloves chopped leeks and chopped leafy portion of the celery.  Sauté for 10 minutes until vegetables begin to sweat.  Add salt and water and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to low and simmer for one hour.  Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.

Strain liquid into a heatproof container using a colander or cheesecloth or both.  Allow to cool to room temperature, or if you live in a cold climate, put it outside in the snow to cool down before moving to the fridge.  This will prevent the temperature in your fridge from fluctuating.  Store in the fridge for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.