This flexible broth is one of the things I always try to teach when I’m giving cooking classes because it’s easy to throw together a fast, flavor enhancing broth using whatever you already have on hand—the trimmings from the herbs, aromatics, and vegetables you are cooking with and the bones or shells from any meat or seafood on the menu. Just throw a pot of water on first thing when you start to cook and add to it as the ingredients are prepped. Here’s a basic recipe made with the shrimp shells and trimmings from the preceding recipe, but remember: you can apply the concept to any of the soup recipes in this chapter. Most anything goes, but stay away from vegetable trimmings that might become bitter or have an overly strong flavor, like eggplant and broccoli.
Recipe information
Yield
makes about 2 1/2 quarts
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Place the reserved shrimp shells; corn cobs; onion, celery, pepper trimmings; and herb stems in a large pot with about 3 quarts cold water and bring to a low boil.
Step 2
Reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 30 minutes. Note that most of the flavors from shrimp shells and vegetables cook out after about 30 minutes, but bones take a little more time. If using bones in place of shells, let the broth cook about 30 minutes longer.
Step 3
Strain the broth, discarding the shells and trimmings, and proceed with your soup recipe.
