I came across a recipe for homemade vegetable bouillon on a food blog called Simple Scratch Cooking and decided to give it a shot. The recipe was, as promised, so simple.
I cut the recipe in half, because the original makes a full quart (that's 4 cups for you cooking measurement n00bs) and I never make that much of a recipe until I know for sure it's a keeper. I did a couple of small substitutions based on what I had on hand. A package of reconstituted dried wild mushrooms were added to a few fresh mushrooms to make the full contribution, green onions stood in for leeks, and dried parsley was substituted for fresh, since my garden was covered in snow. Next time, I will smash the peppercorns first, because they did not get ground up in the food processor. I filled a pint jar with the resulting paste and it sits in my fridge now.
It is quite tasty- not by itself, naturally, unless you're into eating wet, salty, pureed vegetables. But stir a spoonful into a mug of hot water if you're feeling a bit under the weather, and you've got a quick, tasty, and healthy bit of broth.
It's not very picture-worthy, being an orangish-brownish paste and all, but once you taste it (simmered with water and lentils, perhaps, for a simple soup or as a flavor base in a recipe, or stirred into the cooking water of white rice), you'll be glad you tried it.
