Rush hour traffic. Toxic Management. Deadline Stress.

Soup Stock?

The one constant that kept me going when I had particularly long or bad days being treated like robot servitor from Star Wars was knowing that when the weekend came, I could cook something labor intensive. It didn’t always need to be elaborate, but some endeavors are best left for when you have time. Making a fresh stock always has that personal achievement feeling tied to it, and when actually using it makes any dish that much more special.

Below I will take you through the process I went through to make a fresh vegetable stock while also incorporating some foraged wild garlic as a seasonal nod to Spring.

*As a quick disclaimer, never eat anything you haven’t researched and are positive isn’t harmful – I grew up with alliums everywhere so am confident in their edibility.

Step 1: Gathering & Cleaning Garlic

I “located” a patch of wild garlic (it grows like a weed in my area) away from roads or anywhere that may have toxic runoff/pesticides. They were collected, thoroughly washed several times, heads separated off, any weird brown bits taken off the stems, and care was spent to save seeds for replanting.

Step 2: Making the Stock

I added the heads & stems to other washed/prepped vegetables, simmered them about 40 minutes, and strained well. My stocks are always different based on what is in my fridge plus the actual soup I am tailoring it towards – for this one it was very simplified with red onion (plus skins – easy nutrition), celery, bay leaves, and a little extra local garlic my spouse got me for my birthday. I don’t have specific units of measurements since cooking is somewhat intuitive, but I read once that at least half water/half veggie or more is good so I aim for that ratio.

Step 3: Creating A Simple Soup

With the stock now made – I prepped & added mushrooms, diced yellow onion/yellow potatoes, freshly minced ginger (YUM!), cayenne, salt, and ground pepper. I like to sweat my mushrooms in with the onions after they get going and serve them whole because they just look so cool it seems a shame to chop them.

Step 4: Giving Back

Remember those seeds? I washed them off really well and kept the full range of them to scatter in the area I gathered them from. Why? Because it would naturally occur if I hadn’t touched them in the first place, so it feels right to try and give something back.

If you actually made it through my post I want to say thank you and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did making it! Life is hard enough – so it’s ok to slow down, take a breath, and remember: sometimes all you need is fresh air and a mote of garlic.