Sunday 23 June 2013

Summer Vegetable Stock


When I made herb and garlic today, I had lots of stalks from the herbs left and didn't want just throw them out. There were also other items in the fridge that need to be used somehow, e. g. asparagus stalks and a couple of overripe tomatoes. I've no idea how this stock will taste but I'm sure it'll be lovely. ;)

Makes 1.75 l of stock.

the woody parts of 500 g of green asparagus
stalks of a selection of herbs, in this case from a couple of handfuls of flat leaf parsley, coriander, dill, fennel and thyme
3 carrots
3 fennel sticks
1 onion
2 tomatoes
1 whole-bulb garlic
1 tsp back pepper corns
1.5 l boiling water

Coarsely chop all the ingredients, place in a saucepan. Add the pepper corns and boiling water. Bring to the boil, then simmer for approx. 45 minutes until the carrots are tender. Drain and squeeze as much of the goodness out of the vegetables before discarding them.

If you want to do this more quickly, coarsely great all the vegetables. That way your stock is ready in 15-20 minutes.

Incidentally, I didn't forget to list salt. I prefer to add salt as needed depending on what I use the stock for and the ingredients added.

Garlic and Herb Butter


For some reason or other, my other half bought two 250 g packets of butter the other day. We needed to stock up on butter but ususally struggle to eat even on packet by its use-by-date. Instead of freezing some I decided to upgrade them first. The recipe for the tomato butter is here.

And because the herbs were from the garden I had lots of stalks left, I decided to make a summer vegetable stock as well.

Flavoured butter is wonderful to make garlic bread, use with barbecued food or simply spread on fresh bread or rolls. My favourite use for herb butter is on a rare steak, straight from the 70's. ;)

250 g unsalted organic butter, at room temperature
a couple of handfuls of fresh herbs, in this case flat leaf parsley, coriander, dill, fennel and thyme from the garden
1 whole-bulb garlic
freshly grated black pepper
sea salt

You can make this in a food processor buy adding the coarsely chopped herbs, garlic, pepper and salt to the utter and blizzing the ingredients into a smooth creamy paste.

If you haven't one of those, simply place the butter on a board and use a fork to spread it out a bit. Season with pepper and salt. Finely chop the herbs, crush the garlic and scatter onto the butter. Using a fork work everything into a paste.

To freeze, tear off a piece of cling film, place the herb butter on top. Bring in the longer sides and roll into a sausage. Twist the ends, cover in tin foil and put into the freezer. You can then cut off the amount you need in slices, which will defrost really quickly.

Tomato Butter


Here's the second recipe I made with the mountain of butter my other half bought this week. The recipe for the herb and garlic butter is here.

125 g unsalted organic butter, at room temperature
3 garlic cloves garlic
freshly grated black pepper
sea salt
2 dried chillis
5 sundried tomatoes

You can make this in a food processor buy adding coarsely chopped the tomatoes and garlic, pepper and salt to the butter and blizzing the ingredients into a smooth creamy paste.

If you haven't one of those, simply place the butter on a board and use a fork to spread it out a bit. Season with pepper and salt. Finely chop the tomatoes, crush the garlic and scatter onto the butter. Using a fork work everything into a paste.

To freeze, tear off a piece of cling film, place the herb butter on top. Bring in the longer sides and roll into a sausage. Twist the ends, cover in tin foil and put into the freezer. You can then cut off the amount you need in slices, which will defrost really quickly.