Low Waste Cooking: Veg Stock and Carrot Ginger Soup

Trying to minimize waste in a home kitchen can be a difficult task. As we prioritize convenience in our daily lives, we end up disposing of plenty of usable and delicious ingredients. And the kicker is, it isn’t that difficult to safely save food waste here and there, all to the benefit of better tasting food and maybe even saving a buck or two. That’s why keeping a vegetable scraps container in your freezer is my suggestion for anyone’s first step towards minimizing kitchen waste.

In restaurants, we work to keep the percentage of money we spend on ingredients compared to what we sell them for rather low, and this directly creates the need to utilize waste and scraps in creative ways. While the meals we make in our home kitchens may not be for profit, we still buy produce by weight, and any produce getting thrown away brings the money spent right along with it. Enter vegetable stock. I’m sure we all have a base understanding of veg stock and what it entails, but I believe people doubt just how good a good stock can be. Including ginger peel, mushroom ends and other more flavorful ingredients than just the classic onion and celery can produce a deep and complex stock packed to the brim with vitamins and minerals, alongside savory or smoky notes that elevate any recipe far more than any story bought stock will do.

The process is rather simple. For any fresh vegetable preparation I do, I discard the vegetable scraps into a bin, which stays safely sealed in my freezer until it is full enough for me to create something delicious with. This particular round saw the usual suspects: celery scraps, onion skins (red, yellow and white) and carrot peels, but also introduced Trumpet mushroom heads, Shiitake stems, parsnip peels, tomato tops, green onion roots and some acorn squash peels. The resulting stock, accompanied by some aromatic spices, was rich and savory, powerfully earthy and had a perfect hint of sweetness.

*These “usual suspects” are still absolutely important to the process and should make up at least half of the stock ingredients. When it feels like I have enough of these ingredients is when I would start thinking about making my stock.

It is important to note what I wouldn’t put in vegetable stock. Leafy greens like parsley leaves, celery leaves, spinach, or kale, when used in excess, will leave your stock with an overly vegetal and bitter taste. Vegetables in the brassica family like cabbage, bok choy, cauliflower, collards, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, rutabagas, and turnips can also overpower a stock with bitter flavors but can be utilized in small quantities to create some depth in a stock. Lastly, I would avoid overly starchy veg like potatoes or sweet potatoes and squash or pumpkin flesh (small amounts of the skin are great) as they tend to dull out the stock and leave it mealy or cloudy.

*My tip for potato skins is to drizzle with some oil, salt and pepper and roast them in the oven at 425 degrees F until crispy, and you’ve got a perfect little snack or topper to salads or soups.

Chef Dan’s October Vegetable Stock

*This is the recipe I used for this particular batch of stock, but it will change based off what I use and collect over the course of time until I feel I have enough scraps. I added some more onion and carrot in order to find the proper ratio for the stock.

Yield: ~2 quarts stock

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 2-4 hrs

Total time: 2hr 15 minutes

12 cups miscellaneous vegetable scraps such as:

• yellow, white and red onion
• celery
• carrot
• garlic
• parsnips
• Trumpet mushrooms
• Shiitake mushroom stems
• tomato tops
• green onion
• squash skins (not flesh)

Salt and pepper to taste

1 Tablespoon coriander seeds

1 sprig thyme

1 teaspoon allspice

1. Cover vegetable scraps with water, filling a large stock pot.
2. Bring water to a boil then reduce to simmer.
3. Add all additional ingredients.
4. Simmer for at least 2 hours (the further you go, the more concentrated and deep the flavor will be).
5. Allow to cool slightly before packaging and refrigerating.
   
   

Carrot and Ginger Coconut Soup

Scroll down for a printable version of this recipe

Yield: ~3 quarts soup 

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 2 hours

Total time: 2 hours, 10 minutes

2 quarts vegetable stock

2 pounds carrots, peeled and cut into large dice

6 inches ginger, peeled

1 pint sunburst tomatoes

5 cloves garlic

1 pint baby bella mushrooms, rough chop

1 white or yellow onion, quartered

1 can coconut milk

Salt and pepper to taste

2 tablespoons chili powder

1 teaspoon cayenne

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Green onion, thinly sliced

Chili flakes to taste

1. Toss carrots, ginger, tomatoes, garlic, mushrooms and onion with grapeseed oil, salt and pepper and roast at 450 degrees F for 45 minutes to an hour, or until carrots are tender and vegetables begin to blister.
2. While the vegetables are roasting, begin heating up the vegetable stock.
3. Add roasted vegetables to stock and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.
4. Add chili powder, cayenne and nutmeg and season with salt and pepper.
5. Cook until carrots are falling apart, blend in liquid safe blender or using an immersion blender until smooth.
6. While blending, stream in coconut milk until smooth.
7. Return to simmer until desired consistency.
8. Garnish with green onion and chili fakes.

It's soup season, and we have lots of classes focused on stock and soup making techniques. Don't miss: 

• Hands-On The Great Pumpkin on Thursday, October 26 6pm featuring Butternut Squash Bisque with Shaved Brussels Sprouts, Toasted Pecans and Pecorino 
• Virtual Winter Squash Workshop on Sunday, November 12 11am CST featuring Butternut Squash Bisque with Ancho Chili and Toasted Pumpkin Seeds
• Hands-On Autumn Vegetarian Harvest on Monday, November 20 11am featuring Cream of Brussels Sprout Soup with Sweet Potato Biscuits 
• Hands-On Essential Building Blocks on Saturday, December 2 9am featuring Chicken Stock and Crème de Champignons (Cream of Mushroom Soup)