Homemade Vegetable Broth

There’s something very soothing about making a broth from scratch. You gather up all your odds and ends, bring it all together and let it simmer away in your stove while you attend to whatever you may need to. 

Start by saving all your vegetable scraps in a freezer bag. When your bag is full, you’re ready to make some broth. Any scraps will work: the tops and bottoms of vegetables, peels, the stalks of fresh herbs. Your broth, your flavours. 

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp olive oil 

• 1 bay leaf 

• 1 small onion 

• 5 cloves garlic, finely sliced 

• 1 small tomato, chopped 

• 1 tsp paprika

• 1/4 tsp cumin

• Oregano 

• Thyme

• Your vegetable odds and ends

• 2 tbsp tomato paste 

• 1/3 cup passata (crushed tomatoes)

• 4 litres water 

• Salt and pepper 

Method:

💛 Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over low-medium heat. Add the bay leaf and heat for 30 seconds before adding the onion and garlic. When the onions are translucent, add the tomato, herbs, spices and salt and pepper. Stir until fragrant. 

💛 Add your freezer bag of veggie odds and ends and stir with the fragrant onions for a few minutes. Add the tomato paste and passata and stir to coat. 

💛 Add the water and bring to boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to go low and simmer uncovered until your broth has reduced to half its volume. This takes me about 4 hours but simmering for 1-2 hours will also work. 

💛 Taste your broth as you go and season according to your preference. 

💛 Portion into freezer bags to store for later or use the same day for your favourite soup. This also pairs nicely in place of water when cooking rice to create a bowl of flavourful rice.