Often a basis of a great meal is a good quality stock, which is surprisingly simple. If you are not confident in the kitchen this is a recipe that will not overwhelm the beginner.

The key to making a good stock to is not to add anything what will overpower it's flavor as we intend on using it in various dishes. So no garlic or salt should be added.

Ingredients

1 to 2 onions
2 to 3 carrots
3 to 4 celery stalks
1 Leek      
1 head of broccoli
4 to 5 sprigs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
1 small bunch of parsley
1 teaspoon whole peppercorns

Method

Roughly chop the vegetables and you can keep the skins on if you like.

We want to release some of the liquids from the vegetable so we are going to heat them with a little bit of oil in the pot for a few minutes before adding the water. At this point the heat should be medium to high.

Reduce the heat to low and leave the pot to simmer for an hour or so. 

After a hour taste your work, yum.

Strain the pot and keep the stock. you can refrigerate the stock or freeze it. 

You can blend the vegetables in a blender with some of the water for soups or to thicken casseroles which is what we did.

The vegetables that were used to make the stock can be saved to create a casserole or blended to add to a soup recipe. We usually blend the veg, we will be adding the puree to a few of our upcoming recipes.