Perfect vegetable broth

I think everyone has favourite broth and each recipe differs. Some people put a lot of carrots, some add fennel. Everyone has its own tricks to make a perfect broth. I love to drink this deep aromatic soup on cold days. Mostly it’s a base for other soups. Aromatic, good vegetable broth is also a base to make a delicious risotto. In fact it is the most important ingredient. Without a tasty broth, your risotto will be just tasteless, cooked rice.

I used this broth to make my favourite spring risotto (recipe soon). In my perfect broth you can find a lot classic veggies, like: carrots, parsley, celery and onion. But also not so popular- fennel and white turnip. I also add a lot of greens: kale, broccoli stalks, leek leaves, parsley and lovage (you can add dried lovage instead).
I cook this vegetable broth mostly in warm month, in winter I choose the one made of baked roots. It’s more intense and deep in taste. Perfect for rich, winter dishes.

There are a lot of tips and tricks to cook good broth. The most important thing is time. You need to cook your broth on very low heat, for at least 1 hour. You can put your veggies straight to the water or you can fry them first. In this recipe I fry them first until golden brown. Good spices are essential. Lovage- dried or fresh, bay leaves and all spice. Another important thing is that you don’t add the greens at a beginning of cooking. Same thing with salt. Season yor broth at the end.
Do you have any special tips for cooking broth?

This recipe is made on a base of many recipes (Vedge, Polish cookbooks, my grandma’s tips), internet and a lot of cooking!

Perfect vegetable broth

Ingredients:
for 1600ml of broth

2200ml water
3 carrots
1 parsley
3 celery stalks*
1 onion
1 leek (white part)
1⁄4 fennel bulb
1⁄2 white turnip

2-3 savoy cabbage leaves
up to 1 cup of kale, fennel or broccoli stems**
1 bunch of parsley leaves (30g)
green parts of leek

2 tbsp canola oil
5 all spice
3 bay leaves
2-3 tbsp soy sauce
lovage (dried or fresh)

salt
pepper

 *if there are leaves on celery stalks-use it!
** you can mix stems, I froze broccoli or fennel stems if any left and use them later to make this broth

Wash all vegetables, but don’t peel them. Chop carrots, parsley, turnip, fennel,celery, onion and white part of the leek.
In a large pot heat the canola oil. Add chopped vegetables and cook until brown.
Add water and spices (bay leave, all spice and dried lovage). Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cook for about 20 minutes. Add cabbage, 1 cup of stems, leek leaves, parsley. Cook for about 40 minutes on very low heat. If the broth seem not enough aromatic, cook it longer.
At the end of cooking add salt, pepper and soy sauce. Strain the broth and set aside.

You can store it in the refrigerator for about 5 days or longer in the freezer.

Tags: broth dinner fennel gluten free kale leek soup turnip