Broth

Almost any cookbook I've ever loved, starting with Betty Crocker and with no end in sight, has a dead spot in it.
I always skipped the broth and stock chapter. First of all, who has time? Second, why waste all those veggies making broth? Just eat 'em! And third, who in the world wants to go to the trouble of making a recipe for broth? No one will ever know you did it!

Just heave a bouillon cube into that puppy and get on with your day.

But lately, following a difficult encounter with the flu, I embarked on an immune building project. There are many immune enhancing foods. While I'm sick, or if I feel run down, I like to make Medicine Soup, which incorporates some of the most potent: shiitakes, seaweed, miso, and garlic. It's a mushroomy, brothy, garlicky, miso soup with plenty of vegetables and sea veggies. It all starts with shiitake mushroom stems. Not only are shiitakes delicious, they also have profound immune building benefits. Most of the good stuff is in their stems, and can be extracted by simmering gently. In other words, by making broth.

I'd stem the shiitakes, set the caps aside and simmer the stems. You can do this while you're making dinner--it takes very little attention. I was on a mission to rebuild my immune system by eating shiitakes and/or their broth every day. Before long I was throwing in a nice piece of kombu, some wilty carrots, the butt end of a head of celery. Then I recalled something Anna Thomas said about garlic skins making the most flavorful broth--so in they went. Onions skins, potato peelings, zucchini trimmings, the tough parts of the collards, the seedy hearts of bell peppers, those little tiny garlic cloves that are too small to peel. Squishy tomatoes, wilted lettuce, a dried up half an onion you forgot about. If it's not actually spoiled, you can chuck it into the broth. (The only downside is that the chickens aren't getting as many scraps as they used to!) Add a pinch of Celtic sea salt and a spoonful of apple cider vinegar to help dissolve minerals into the water.

If you end up with a lot of broth, you can strain it into jars & freeze it. Just a cup or two will almost magically enhance the flavor of your next stew, soup, pot of beans. Or you can keep simmering, reduce it down, and thicken it for gravy. As the weeks go by I find myself tossing new things into the broth like a handful of crab boil, or a thumb of ginger, or a spoonful of peppercorns. And I honestly can't believe how much better things taste with homemade stock.

Medicine Soup
1 largish onion, sliced
4 cups assorted vegetables like broccoli, carrots, rhutabaga, beets, zucchini, potatoes, corn, greens, etc (really whatever you like)
a 3- inch piece of kombu or a small handful of your favorite seaweed
some grated fresh ginger
6-8 cups of water, broth, or any combination thereof

Saute the onion until browned in healthy oil of your choice (coconut is excellent). If using Shiitake caps add them now & saute a few minutes to bring out their flavor. Add veggies and broth and simmer until they are just tender. Remove soup from heat.

Mix 3 tbsp miso ( I love chickpea miso--it's creamy and mild, and not soy) with a little cool water to make it liquid. Wait until soup has cooled slightly before you stir in the miso--it's a living probiotic food and you don't want to kill it.
Before serving, to each bowl add one or two cloves of crushed raw, garlic and a dash of Sriracha if you like it.