[Week 20] A Vegetable Stock PSA

Plus: How to Store Dill

Last week I spotted a very simple soup recipe calling for mostly three ingredients: butternut squash, garlic, and chicken stock.

Given the short ingredient list, I wondered if its success would rely on the richness of the chicken stock, which I didn’t have on hand and which I had little desire to make. So I made vegetable stock instead, which has never let me down and which proved as reliable as ever.

In the time it took for the squash and garlic to roast, the stock was done, and it tasted rich: well-seasoned, earthy, vegetal. I’m not sure why this surprised me as I’ve made it many times, but still, I found myself thinking:

Made with scraps! Full of flavor! Done in 45 minutes! Why make anything else?

Friends, with soup season upon us, this is such a good trick to have up your sleeves. Your soups calling for meat stocks will not suffer. I promise.

Note: This recipe does call for whole vegetables (onion, carrot, celery) as opposed to scraps, but if you are good at saving your scraps — onion skins, carrot peels and ends, celery butts, etc. — moving forward, know that you can make your stock entirely from scraps. Store the scraps in the freezer. No need to thaw before plunging them into the stock pot.

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Week 20 Vegetables

This week I’ll shoot to use the broccoli first. I’ll store the potatoes, sweet potatoes, popcorn, and onions at room temperature. Everything else will go in the fridge and will keep just fine for the week.

I find dill lasts nearly forever when stored in the fridge like this:

Notes from Roxbury Farm:

Popcorn: Place it in a paper bag in a dry spot in your home for a week so it can completely dry out. This will give you better results when you pop it.

Ginger: Store in the fridge. No need to peel before using!

• potatoes → Potato Recipes

• cabbage → Cabbage Recipes

• popcorn → See above.

• kale → Kale Recipes

• sweet potatoes → Sweet Potato Recipes

• ginger → See above + Ginger Recipes

• onions → Onion Recipes

• broccoli → Broccoli Recipes

• dill → Herb Recipes

• beets → Beet Recipes

Find recipes for all the vegetables here → Farm Share Vegetables

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8 Recipes to Make This Week

Heart Beet Kitchen’s Roasted Cabbage Steaks with Garlicky Beet Sauce look divine:

We are not receiving butternut squash this week, but here’s the very simple soup recipe I mentioned above should you have one lying around: butternut squash and roasted garlic soup. In sum: roast a whole, halved butternut squash and 1 whole head of garlic together; then purée them with vegetable stock: easy peasy!

Simple Potato-Leek Soup

Lighter, Better Broccoli-Cheddar Soup: You’ll need to pick up some more broccoli for this one.

Crispy Potato, Egg, and Cheese Tacos: One of my favorite things to eat.

For the ginger and the kale: Curried Lentils with Kale and Coconut Milk

For the fresh ginger: Cookie and Kate’s Fresh Ginger Tea

I haven’t made this in ages, but I remember loving it. Might be a fun one to save for the weekend: Beet, Goat Cheese, and Walnut Tart

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Fellow Farm Sharers: Please share in the comments links to recipes you are loving for your farm share vegetables! Tips, questions, and suggestions are always welcome, too. Enjoy your vegetables! 🥦🥬🥒🌶🌽🥕 See you next week :)