Stock Up for Summer
Planning and cooking meals is not my favorite way to spend time during the busy summer months. Making stock now and freezing it in various quantities makes it easier.
Freeze stock in quarts for soups or in ice cube trays to add a couple of the cubes when making rice, risotto, or stir-frying. Regardless of the definition, stocking up to enhance your meals is easy and smart.
Ingredients
- 5 pounds chicken parts with bones
- 2 medium-size yellow onions, unpeeled and quartered
- 4 large carrots, unpeeled and halved
- 4 whole celery ribs with leaves, cut into thirds
- 2 parsnips, unpeeled and cut in half
- 6 cloves garlic
- 8 sprigs fresh parsley
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
Place all ingredients in large pot and cover with cold water plus 2 inches.
*Tip: Wait until you are ready to actually use the finished stock before adding salt and pepper.
Bring to full boil and then reduce to simmer; simmer uncovered for 6 hours. After 1 hour remove the breasts and take the meat off the bones. Return the bones to the pot and save the breast meat for other purposes.
At the end of the 6 hours of simmering, strain contents through a colander and discard the solids.
Chill the stock overnight.
The next day, remove any surface fat.
Use immediately or pack in assorted sizes of containers, seal and freeze. May be kept frozen up to 4 months.
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