The Best Vegetable Stock
The addition of chick peas elevates the traditional vegetable stock into a versatile and delicious soup that can be enjoyed on its own.

Yield: 6 cups

Ingredients

2 cups chickpeas, soaked overnight and drained
1 large onion, peeled and halved
1 large carrot, peeled and halved
2 celery stalks, trimmed and halved
1 turnip, peeled and quartered
1 small fennel, cored and halved
4 garlic cloves, peeled
8 sprigs flat leaf parsley
6 celery leaves
½ teaspoon black peppercorns
1 teaspoon fennel seed
1 teaspoon coriander seed
½ teaspoon cumin seed
2 star anise
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon cane sugar
1 ½ teaspoons sea salt

Directions

1. Fill a 10-quart stockpot halfway up with cold water and add the chickpeas, onion, carrot, celery, turnip, fennel, and garlic.

2. Cut a 12-inch square of cheesecloth and place the parsley, celery leaves, and dry spices in the center. Tie the sachet up tightly with butchers twine and set it in the stockpot.

3. Turn the flame to high and bring the stock to a boil. Stir in the sugar and salt, and then reduce the heat to low and maintain a steady simmer.

4. Cook the broth, partially covered, until the chickpeas are very tender which should take about 2 hours. Its done once you can easily crush a chickpea between your thumb and index finger.

5. Leave the vegetables in the pot as you cool the broth.

6. Once cool, remove the sachet of herbs and strain the broth through a fine mesh strainer.

To Serve: At this point you may use the strained broth as is and discard the cooked chickpeas and vegetables or you can assemble it into a light vegetable soup. To make the soup, simply place the two cups of chickpeas, four cups of broth, and all of the simmered vegetables into a blender and process until very smooth. Season the soup with salt and black pepper to taste and serve. Alternatively you can allow the broth to cool, transfer it to quart containers and freeze it. The broth will keep for up to a month when frozen.

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