tomatoless veggie broth

Back when my fiance friday was one of them vee-gans i would have problems when I made soup. My problem was that both of us love soup, so I liked making it, but the veggie stocks on the market were unacceptable for most recipes. It wasn't really a flavor issue, in most recipes chicken stock and veggie stock are basically equivalent since all you really want from stock is richness and salt content, and usually just the salt. the issue was that most commercial stocks use tomatoes as a shortcut to flavor.

Now, I like tomatoes, and I even like tomato soup, but I do not like tomato in everything and my way hetero lady-friend is allergic to cooked tomatoes. Even were she not, the tang of tomato is no replacement for the richness of chicken. This ubiquitous use of the reddest member of the nightshade family kind of makes me want to go on a rant about the homogenization of american culture. there are many, many good veggies out there. none are available as the base of a stock. could i get a mushroom stock up in here maybe? or celery! celery is nice, and it is in fact what differentiates boiled chicken water from chicken soup (along with salt and your mother's love, which they bottle now). So i set out to create a good, veg-an stock that wouldn't taste like a lemon or kill anyone I am fond of.

I failed pretty badly.

again, not because there aren't great veggies out there! but concocting a perfect stock from numerous ingredients is very tricky. I had a couple minor successes but nothing that was perfect or even got near that term, until this weekend.

Yes this weekend, after years of effort, I stumbled on the perfect veggie stock, completely by mistake, as a side dish, and whilst barely paying attention. I also fucked up the dish it went into for other reasons, so that was fun. also? My wife-of-the-future is no longer fueled only by vegetables, and has been enjoying real chicken stock for several years now quite happily. so fuck.

anyway, here it is. it is absurdly simple, just go easy on the pepper.

the green parts of 2 leeks

3-4 cabbage leaves

handful or so of spinach

a bunch of water?

salt and pepper to taste

getcha self a big old pot (not like a stock pot. pasta pot? a big one) and fill with water. toss in the leeks and simmer for a half hour or so. cut up the cabbage to bite size pieces, throw that in there. simmer for fifteen or so. throw in the spinach. simmer a bit. be generous with the salt if you are going to use this to flavor other things. be careful with the pepper. i kind of overdid it.

and that's about it. for a richer broth, brown the cabbage and an onion in a few tablespoons of butter, if you don't mind dairy. As you enjoy the broth, contemplate the HOURS. you spent building the broth for that vegan matzo ball soup that FAILED.

FAILED.