call me lazy....

i find that i am always making stock concentrate whenever i can just so i have it on hand...so i made some today. not one to waste anything, i usually make a soup in the thermomix bowl after bottling the concentrate. it serves a dual purpose - the little bit of concentrate in the bowl isn't wasted, and the bowl gets a washed out with soup.

today, i changed things a little and made bread/pizza dough. it's slightly pale green, but i'm sure it's going to be flavoursome. because the dough is kneaded so well in the thermomix, the bowl is virtually cleaned of concentrate so i can clean as usual. i do it my favourite way and heat about a litre of water up in the thermomix and let it clean itself on full speed when the water is hot. nothing could be simpler.

vegetable stock concentrate revisited.

i feel like i've been making this by the bucketload. everyone wants it even though i give them the recipe. it's all a matter of proportions. i use a kilo of aromatic vegetables and herbs. the combination is endless. vegetables i like using are onions, garlic, celery, swedes, parsnips, leeks. the herbs i use are whatever i can get from the garden: parsley, rosemary, basil, sage, tarragon, marjoram, thyme and bay leaves. to this, i add 200 grams of sea salt and a really generous amount of oil. i whack it all into the thermomix and blitz until chopped. cook it for 20-30 minutes at 100 degrees celcius on speed 3, blitz until smooth and pour into clean containers. this keeps in the fridge for 6 months as the salt acts as a preservative (this is what i've been told, but i wouldn't know because mine gets all used up before i get to the expiry date).

it's so much better than a stock cube because you know what goes into it and there isn't any msg, but mind you, it give such a kick to the things you cook you'd think it was.

chinese flavoured stock concentrate

i thought i'd take yesterday's vegetable stock concentrate a step further and make a chinese version. i realise mine is not authentic by any stretch of the imagination, but it works for me, and that's what matters.

1/2 cup rice bran oil
250 grams garlic, peeled
500 grams ginger, peeled and sliced
some spring onions, chopped
100 grams salt

place everything into a blender and blitz until everything is pureed.
scrape it all out of the blender jug into a non stick saucepan and heat gently until everything is bubbling away, and allow to do so for a good five to ten minutes. stir the pot every so often to make sure the mixture doesn't catch.
decant into sterelised jars and put the lids on immediately and invert the jars so a vacuum will be created once the puree cools. refrigerate and use within six months.

one tablespoon will flavour up to a litre of water and would make a good poaching stock for chicken. this is also pretty good stirred through noodles and can be used as a dipping sauce for the poached chicken (a la hainanese chicken). a bit of sesame oil mixed in wouldn't go astray either.

vegetable stock concentrate

this is a new thing for me, and a new favourite. i've always made my own stock because i've always felt a bit odd opening a tetra pak stock, or using a cube. making my own stock has also taken precious time and effort....this stock concentrate has revolutionalised my thinking about stock. let me get on with the recipe and you can make your own judgement. the vegetables only need to be chopped roughly as they will be pureed once cooked.

1/2 cup olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 parsnip, peeled and chopped
1 turnip, peeled and chopped
2-3 stalks of celery (i used several of the inside stalks, including the leaves), chopped
a good handful of parsley, chopped
150 grams salt (yes, you read that correctly. it preserves the mix and provides an accent to the mix)

heat the oil in a saucepan large enough to contain the vegetables (which should weigh about a kilogram altogether).
sweat the onion and garlic until soft and slightly coloured.
add the parsnip, turnip, celery, parsley and salt and continue to gently cook the vegetables. the salt will draw out moisture, so the vegetables can soften in their own liquid.
give everything a good stir, lower the heat and place the lid on the pot and allow everything to cook slowly. check every now and then to ensure the vegetables don't catch; once everything is very tender, use the bamix to puree it all.
have some sterilised jars ready and decant the puree into them. place the lids on immediately and invert. once cooled, the jars should be vacuum sealed. store the jars in the refrigerator and use within six months.

that's it. a tablespoon is equivalent to a stock cube. use the mix as you would salt - sparingly and carefully. mixing a spoonful in water will give you instant vegetable stock. in some cases, i've found that i will use it to season food instead of salt and it's just that bit more interesting than seasoning with plain salt. remember not to overdo things because there's alot of salt in the mix, and if you go overboard, whatever you're cooking is going to be mighty salty.
for those of you with a thermomix, you'll recognise it as a thermomix recipe, but i don't see why it should be made exclusively by those with a thermomix; everyone else should try it too.