What Did You Cook the Week of December 25, 2016?

[BakerAunt]

On Thursday, I sautéed celery, carrots, mushrooms, and broccoli in drippings from our Christmas turkey. I mixed in chopped up turkey, some cooked couscous, and parsley, as well as some poultry seasoning. It is my version of a "grain bowl," although I was making them before they were trendy, and will be making them after they no longer are. On Friday evening, I used a heavy enamel iron pot on the flat deck of our wood stove to make broth from the turkey bones, and on Saturday, I again used the wood stove to make ground turkey, dried beans, and vegetable soup with the broth. I seasoned it with Penzey's Bouquet Garni.

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[Joan Simpson]

Cooked small pot of Chili.Made a big bowl of Ambrosia and a big batch of Rice Krispie treats which I doctor up adding more butter and marshmallows.

[Italiancook]

I was resting during this week. I didn't cook. We ate food from the freezer. So glad I spent the fall stocking the freezer. Oh, I made Blue Cheese Dip, but that hardly counts as cooking.

[Mike Nolan]

I made a cheese souffle in a kitchen where I couldn't find an egg separator, so I separated them by hand. Unfortunately, I broke 2 yolks and twice made the mistake of dumping the egg whites in the souffle pot rather than in the mixer bowl, so I wound up with a souffle with 10 egg yolks in it but only 6 egg whites. It was tasty but a bit too eggy, more like scrambled eggs in places than than a souffle.

[BevM]

This probably doesn't qualify as "real" cooking, but I tried my hand at making vegetable broth. My granddaughter is trying really hard to become vegetarian and some of the broths bought at the store are, in my opinion, questionable in color and taste. The broth looks to be about the same color as chicken broth and I'm hoping it will make a nice tortellini/spinach soup for her one weekend. If anyone has any suggestions on ingredients to add to the broth, I am open to any and all opinions.

[Mike Nolan]

I've never tried making vegetable broth, but I'm told you need to avoid things like cabbage and broccoli. Mushrooms are supposed to be good in vegetable stock. (Personally, I'd avoid garlic, but would include onions, carrots and celery.)

The 'secret ingredient' in my chicken stock is parsnips, so I'd be sure to include them.

[BakerAunt]

I've heard of using potato peels, but I've not tried it. I like red bell pepper in soups, so you could try it in a stock as well.

[RiversideLen]

I've made veggie stock using celery, parsley, onion and carrots. It's decent, here's a link to recipe.

Veggie Stock

• This reply was modified 7 years, 4 months ago by RiversideLen.

[BevM]

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions and link to Veggie Stock. That is pretty much how I made mine. I did add a small piece of lemon grass and some fresh bay leaves. Eventually the weather will cool off and I will make the tortellini/spinach soup and will report back on the flavor.

[Italiancook]

I had an excellent recipe for Vegetable Broth, but can't find it now. Sorry. It came from the Internet. It includes mushrooms. I've made veggie broth just using leftover vegetables without mushrooms. I can tell you the mushrooms add a depth of flavor to the broth that I couldn't achieve without them.

[BevM]

Italian cook, thanks for the tip about mushrooms. I had some but hesitated to use them. I will definitely do next time.

[RiversideLen]

I'm thinking dried mushrooms would add more depth of flavor than fresh.

[Mike Nolan]

My experiences with dried mushrooms is that they aren't as flavorful as fresh mushrooms, unless they've been smoked.

[BakerAunt]

I read in some articles this past year that chefs who want to reduce food waste are using the mushroom stems in broths in order to get the flavor that Italian Cook was discussing.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 4 months ago by BakerAunt.

[Mike Nolan]

That practice has been around for decades. Minimizing kitchen waste can be the difference between a profitable restaurant and one that closes due to sustained losses.

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