The cooler weather calls us to warm ourselves from the inside out with nourishing soups and broths. On the weekend we love to gather our vegetable scraps and peels from the week and veggies that are looking a little tired, to form the base of this nourishing broth with the addition of a couple of other staples and immune boosters like Reishi mushroom and astragalus.
It’s a beautiful way to give second life to peels and scraps and the veggies you may not have gotten around to enjoying, so feel free to use the below ingredients as a guide and experiment with whatever you have to hand.
This adaptogenic broth is warming, fortifying and incredibly immune-supporting.
Ingredients
1 cup of fresh shiitake - sliced
2 large carrots – washed, skin on, sliced
1 red onion – sliced with skins
1 leek – green parts included, chopped
Half bunch celery - including tops, chopped
1 fennel – green parts included, chopped
1 head garlic – peeled and each clove smashed
Thumb of ginger – washed, skin on, diced
Up to 5 cups of vegetable scraps (peels, off-cuts, broccoli stems)
3 tbsp coconut oil or ghee
½ tsp sea salt
30 g dry sea vegetables such as arame or wakame
1 tbsp Reishi extract
1 tsp astragalus extract
2 bay leaves
Bunch parsley
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
4 litres water
Method
Add coconut oil or ghee, shiitake, carrots, red onion, leek, celery, fennel, garlic, ginger, vegetable scraps and sea salt to a large pot and stir over low heat for 3 – 5 minutes to release the flavour being careful not to let any of the ingredients begin to brown.
Add all of the remaining ingredients except for the Reishi and astragalus and let simmer for 1 ½ hours.
Strain the broth into a large bowl and compost the remaining solids if you can. Stir in the Reishi and astragalus extracts.
Allow to cool and enjoy in a mug on its own or with fresh vegetables added to form a soup. Refrigerate the remaining broth for up to a week or freeze for up to 6 months.
Makes 8 – 10 servings.
