This is a staple in both our houses, we use this stock paste in a lot of meals. Once upon a time we would have bought a little square cube, squished it up and popped that into our meal for a bit of extra flavour, but now that we are additive-free and understand what goes into these little flavoured cubes, so we refuse to buy stuff like that any more.

Store all your old food scraps in a reusable bag in the fridge or freezer. We choose to freeze them and just keep adding to the bag until we have enough to make more paste.

Things to save up to make veggie paste:

  • ends off carrots and zucchini,
  • leafy parts of celery or the green end from leeks,
  • stalks from kale or spinach,
  • peelings from carrots, sweet potato and pumpkin,
  • broccoli and cauliflower stalks,
  • any herbs or veggies that are going a bit old, but not rotten (mushrooms, onions, garlic, tomatoes, carrots, parsnip, fresh herbs etc),
  • even old, soft apples (cored) to your veggie stock paste makes an amazing flavour.

At the end of the day, there are no rules when it comes to what veggies to add to your paste, which is why ours turns out a different colour every single time.

Once you have made the paste, you can even dehydrate it, and then blitz it up at high speed and turn it into a veggie stock powder.

 

June 6, 2018
  • 5m
  • 45m
  • 50m

Ingredients

  • 6 c mixed veggies of choice for vegetable stock paste
  • 2 tbsp. herbs of choice for vegetable stock paste
  • 50 g rock salt
  • 1 tsp. black peppercorns
  • 2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/4 c water

Instructions

Thermal Cooking Method

  1. Add everything to mixing jug, but don't overfill it. Cook for 45 minutes/steaming temp/speed 1. Add more olive oil or water if it is burning.
  2. To puree, gradually increase the speed to 9 and puree for 1 minute, or until smooth.

Traditional Cooking Method

  1. Add everything to a large pot, bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook for 45 minutes, stirring often. Add more olive oil or water if it is burning or sticking to the base of the pot.
  2. To puree, blend using a stick blender or food processor until smooth.