But I can’t live on tea alone, and that’s why our ancestors invented stew.

Stew is typically a meaty dish, but it can easily be made vegetarian and it’s just as warm and satisfying. It’s also a good clean-out-the-fridge dish, as it’s very forgiving, and the balance of flavors it usually less important than just having lots of hearty things in it.

Still, I’m proud of the stew I whipped up the other day – I think it came together with a lot of personality, and is different enough from the average stew to merit special recognition.  It’s loosely inspired by some West African recipes I’ve eaten and/or read, but doesn’t really follow any cooking tradition.  The choice of ingredients (especially the peanut butter) was guided partly by my imagination of what flavors might be nice, but equally as much by the fact that I was craving peanut butter that day.  It worked well.

The following “recipe” is more like a guideline – I lost track of how much of some things I put in, or how long they cooked, but like I said, you’ll find it pretty forgiving.

Sweet Potato Peanut Butter Stew

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon (or more) minced ginger
• 3 cups warm vegetable stock
• 1 cup warm water
• Two small or one large sweet potato, diced
• 1 can chickpeas
• 2 tablespoons brown rice
• 2 tablespoons peanuts
• 1/4 cup (or more) chunky peanut butter
• lemon juice, salt, and pepper (to taste)

Heat the olive oil in a large pot, and saute the garlic and ginger until the garlic begins to brown.

Add the water and stock, and bring it to a boil.  Lower the heat to a simmer, then add the sweet potato, chickpeas, rice, and peanuts.  Let it simmer half-covered for about an hour, until the rice is done and the sweet potato is falling apart.

Add the peanut butter and stir to dissolve.  Mash some of the sweet potatoes against the side of the pot to thicken the stew.

Simmer a few more minutes, then taste and add lemon juice, salt, and pepper as needed.

Serve piping hot and enjoy!

I’ve already touched on soups this winter with the tomato soup I made a few weeks ago.  Before I write about more, though, I want to take a few minutes to talk about stock.

All soups start with a base liquid, which enhances the flavor and adds character.  You can use boullion cubes dissolved in water, or broth from a store, but my favorite is making stock.  It’s fantastically easy, very flexible, and if you just make it well ahead of time, you can freeze it and keep it on hand until you need it.  I know you’re saying now: “you mean I need to plan ahead?  Another thing I have to remember to do in my busy life?”  But I’m telling you: don’t worry, just do it.  If you cook at all, it’s worth it.  It’s so simple that I’m not even going to write out a recipe; I’m just going to tell you how to do it.

The first thing to do is gather your ingredients.  These can be just about any vegetables or trimmings.  If you know you’re going to make stock, save your vegetable trimmings (like carrot ends, potato skins, and broccoli stems) in a bag in the freezer for a week, and you should be about set.  Note that it’s much better to use organic vegetables, if you can – pesticides in conventional vegetables are strongest in the skins.  Also avoid anything with a super-strong flavor, as it will dominate the stock; bitter greens are a no-no.  And never, never use anything that is spoiled or that you wouldn’t want to eat straight!

As your stock expertise grows, you can pick and choose your ingredients to make a stock suited to a particular soup, but for a good general-purpose stock, anything goes. Supplement your trimmings with onions, garlic, fresh vegetables, and other ingredients.  You’ll want a couple cups’ worth altogether, chopped small so there’s plenty of surface area exposed.  Here are some common stock ingredients:

• onions
• garlic
• carrots
• potatoes
• asparagus
• stems from greens
• broccoli stems
• bay leaves
• roasted nuts
• lentils or other fast-cooking legumes
• cheese rinds

Once you’ve assembled your ingredients, heat a smidge of oil in the bottom of your biggest pot (you’ll want to make batches of a gallon or more).  Saute the onions and garlic, and other hard vegetables like carrots, for a few minutes until they soften.  This will help to release the flavor.

Then, just add water, bring it to a boil, and let it simmer, covered, for about an hour.  That’s it: just boil it until the vegetables have released most of their flavors.  When it’s done, turn off the heat and let the vegetables (and any stow-away dirt) settle to the bottom, and pour off the liquid into storage bowls, mason jars, or ice cube trays.  The ice cube tray is my new favorite method, because you can turn your stock-cubes out into a plastic bag and use them as needed.  (Just let your family know not to use the “ice cubes” in their drinks!)  You can freeze mason jars if you leave an inch and a half or so of space at the top of the jar, so it doesn’t explode when the stock expands in the freezer.  Or, you can store it in a bowl in the fridge for about a week.

As an alternative, you can try making stock in a slow cooker (if you’re planning to use it soon – it won’t keep as long) or a pressure cooker.  I haven’t tried the pressure cooker method, but I’m hoping to do so soon.  If you try it, comment and let me know how it works for you!

Over the next few weeks, we’ll look at some ways to turn stock into soup (and maybe some other uses for it, too)!