Stock

When it's cold and damp outside a hearty soup or warming risotto may be the only way to go but both of these, and many a good dish, require stock.

Marigold boullion powder is highly recommended but I am now a proponent of fresh stock, not least because it's a brilliant way to use up dying veg instead of binning them and it freezes really well. It used to scare me and seemed an ancient mystery known only to chefs but marrying one helped decode the process and the clue is simply this: think like a pig!

By that I mean(almost)any scraps are fine cuisine, so I made a stock this week using the following...

half a leek (including all the old green top)
a bendy carrot
four sticks of very bendy celery
three slightly wrinkly button mushrooms
the skin of an onion (yes all the brown papery stuff)
the skin of a garlic bulb (as above but the white papery stuff!)
a glove of garlic
two bay leaves
6 pepper corns
and a big old pan of water

bring to the boil and simmer for as long as you can but not so long all the liquid vanishes! (About and hour and a half I guess but even 30 mins is worth it).

Cabbage is best left out it adds a sulpherous note that's not really welcome, like wise peppers or anything slimey aren't great. Parsley is good especially the stalks. Obviously this is a veggie one but if you have any bones left over from your meat stick them in - no offal it goes a bit bitter (Mr Flower says so).

This went into a leek and goats cheese with chive risotto and very lovely it was too.