Roasted Vegetable Broth

Feel free to play around with the recipe and vary the proportions or ingredients to suit your tastes or to utilize what you have on hand!

1 1/2 pounds carrots

1 pound onions

1 pound celery

1 zucchini

1 fennel bulb

3-4 teaspoons oil

12 cups water

1 small bunch of parsley, including stems

2 small bay leaves

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves

1/2 teaspoon whole peppercorns

Chop the carrots, onion, celery, zucchini and fennel into large chunks. Divide mixture between two large rimmed sheet pans. Use a pastry brush to lightly coat vegetables with oil. Give the pans a good shake to toss the veggies around and coat all sides with oil.

Place one pan on lower rack of oven and one pan on the upper rack. Roast vegetables at 425F for 15-20 minutes, or until browned on top. Flip veggies around and switch pans to opposite racks. Roast another 15-20 minutes, until browned on all sides.

Remove pans from oven. Transfer roasted vegetables to a large pot. Pour a little water into hot sheet pans, scraping up all the browned bits, and add to the pot. Add the 12 cups of water, parsley, bay, thyme and peppercorns. Cover and bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes. Remove the lid and simmer another 15-20 minutes. Strain the broth and season with salt to taste.

Yields approximately 10 cups of broth.