One of the mistakes I see many cooks making is automatically reaching for a can of chicken broth whenever a recipe calls for a bit of stock or a sauce needs an additional 1/3 cup of liquid. But the strong flavors of a broth—and the saltiness of canned broth in particular—can often change the flavor direction from where you want to go. And it’s an unnecessarily expensive and sometimes wasteful habit, if you only use a bit of the can and discard the rest. Instead, I encourage you to adopt one of my favorite thrifty kitchen practices: making your own simple vegetable broth when you are cooking, using it as a multi-purpose “moistening agent” for a host of dishes.

Ingredients

Any combination of the following will give you a good broth

　　Trimmed leaves of leek or scallion, cut up

　　Chunks or peelings of carrot

　　Chunks or peelings of celery

　　2 or 3 cloves of garlic with peel, smashed

　　Several sprigs and stems of parsley

　　Stalks and leaves of basil, oregano, marjoram, sage, or other herbs

Optional flavor enhancers

　　Strips of lemon peel

　　All you need for this clean-flavored and cost-free liquid are a saucepan, a few cups of water, a cup or two of fresh vegetable pieces, and a few sprigs of herbs. Just rinse off all the flavorful trimmings from vegetables you are prepping, and throw them in the pot with water to cover by an inch or two, with a bit of salt and maybe a dash of olive oil. Cook 1/2 hour or more, until the liquid is reduced by a third and the flavor is extracted, then strain and use in sauces, roasts, a gratinate, or to steam vegetables. Put the remainder in the refrigerator or freezer so it’s there when you want it—and you won’t need that can of stock.

　　From Lidia's Family table by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich Copyright (c) 2004 by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich Published by Knopf.Lidia Bastianich hosts the hugely popular PBS show, "Lidia's Italian-American kitchen" and owns restaurants in New York City, Kansas City, and Pittsburgh. Also the author of Lidia's Italian Table and Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen, she lives in Douglaston, New York. Jay Jacob's journalism has appeared in many national magazines.From the Trade Paperback edition.