Roasted Veggie Stock

How about this beautiful autumn weather, nummy? It’s balmy and breezy and cool and simply delightful outside, no?

Actually, no; it is not. It’s going to be 88 degrees in Nashville this afternoon, and I just spent my lunch hour  sweating through my long-sleeved shirt on the Calypso patio, so we Southerners still have a ways to go, as they say.

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Nonetheless, it was 67 degrees when I left the house this morning and we even managed to cook out last night without me throwing up from the humidity. Also, we’ve gotten to watch The Vols play football – and actually win, no less – two Saturdays in a row, so I say it’s fall, dad-gummit.

In that vein, we’re gonna kick things off with a roasted veggie stock that can serve as the base for any seasonal soup you like. Roasting the veggies is super easy but will give you much more depth of flavor* than just doing a basic broth, so don’t go cutting corners.

8 oz of mushrooms
2 carrots, medium dice
8 garlic cloves, peeled
2 onions, medium dice
1 celery stalk, small dice
4 sprigs of thyme

1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. Coat all veggies in oil and roast on sheet pan for 1 hour.
3. Remove veggies to a stockpot, then deglaze the hot roasting pan by adding 1 cup of water.
4. Scrape up any browned bits, then add the liquid to the post along with 6 cups of cold water and the thyme sprigs.
5. Simmer gently uncovered for 1 hour. Strain and store. Or use immediately to make The Chef’s Tortilla Soup. Easy and delish.

*Depth of flavor is my one bit of pretentious kitchen-speak for this post. We may have been out of the blogging game for a while, but that doesn’t mean the Cooking Channel hasn’t been playing on an obnoxious loop in the background of our lives the whole time. Osmosis, baby,