Homemade veg stock

[stegasaurus]

Since weaning DD to eat mostly the same meals as us we have been using Heinz baby stock cubes. They are low in salt but so entirely tasteless that I am tempted to save money and just use boiling water in place of stock. Can I make my own veg stock instead? How? Would it be tastier and suitably low in salt for a 7 month old?

Veg stock is easily made and should be tastier than a cube. I make mine by roasting a selection of roughly broken up vegetables ... celery, carrot, onion, garlic, cabbage stalks and whatever else is handy.... in a little oil until everything starts to caramelise and take on a little colour. Add that to a pot with enough water to cover and some woody herbs... bayleaf, rosemary, thyme, parsley stalks... and whole peppercorns plus a pinch of salt for flavour. I do mine in the pressure cooker for about 15-20 minutes and leave to cool. On the hob you could cook for about an hour to get the flavours out. Strain off the stock, throw away the now tasteless veggies. There you go.

Yes I do what Cogito said as well. Only thing I do slightly different is to add salt right at the end after straining as I make it in a pan on a very gentle simmer over a couple of hours (rather than a pressure cooker). Adding salt up front is a bit of a risk as it may become too salty as water evaporates off.

the best stock i made was by braising chopped leeks really slowly until they were almost liquid and then adding loads of water and all the bits of veg i had left over in the veg basket- spuds, carrots, onions, (things like brassicas work but can be a bit smelly while cooking), bay leaves, peppercorns. Bring to the boil and cook for an hour.

you can also swap red or white wine or a tin of tomatoes for most dishes that require stock as well to save time

Do these keep or would I have to remake it every time?
witch I think replacing the stock with wine is a great idea but probably not appropriate for DD!

Some chefs reduce stock right down (they dont add salt as it concentrates to much) and then keep it in the freezer in small freezer bags or even freeze as ice cubes and then bag them up once frozen. They are like stock cubes then and you and take a few out of the bag as you need them.

Obvioulsy you need to thaw them in a microwave, stir and thoroughly reheat to make sure it is hot right through as you would with any frozen food.

I just bung a load of veg (onion, celery, mushrooms, peppers, carrots, parsnips, broccoli stalks, anything I have to hand) in the slow cooker with some peppercorns, bayleaf and maybe some thyme and put it on low overnight.

I freeze it in half pint containers as most recipes I use it for come in multiples of half-pints.