Stock!

Tomorrow Matt and I have our first CSA box from Harmony Valley and along with that we are picking up 50 lbs of beef and 20 lbs of soup bones from Grazier's Organic Beef. This, however, means that we have to clear out the freezer, which is currently full of chicken carcasses to make stock out of. So there has been a lot of stock making the last few days since we have a veritable chicken graveyard in the freezer, all stored in handy dandy ziplock baggies.



To make the stock, I chop up (and half-ass peel) an onion or two along with a couple of shallots and some carrots. I add one or two of our carcasses from our weekly whole roasted or grilled chicken and cover them with water. I also add half a package of this:



Its parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme, thus the Scarborough mix. I would like to be using my own herbs, but they are ummmm.... not doing so hot yet. I start simmering all of this together. In the meantime I add this:



to my stomach. Since I had some extra herbs and olive oil, I decided to make some flavored oils while I was waiting to adjust the stove temperature so that the stock was nicely bubbly but not boiling. I first zested an orange and heated the zest, some oil, spearmint, and peppermint to make an orange-mint oil that I think will be great on salmon or as part of a salad dressing. Then, I replaced my supply of basil oil by heating some basil in oil until the entire kitchen smelled like it and chicken stock. This made me hungry, so I ate some of Tuesday's brownie experiment. Sadly, the brownies were great. That doesn't, however, mean we have any left. Blame Matt for that one because I obviously had no part in it. Like I would eat overly sweet chocolate gooeyness!