This is a great base for lots of different things.  Make a pot of stock and then freeze it in deli containers so you can use a bit at a time.

In a large pot, put a splash of good olive oil at the bottom. Fat molecules carry flavor throughout the dish and slightly sauteed vegetables just make better stock.

Take an onion, peel it, but leave it whole. Stick 3-4 whole cloves into the onion and add it to the pot.  The cloves decorate the onion nicely and add “un soupcon de gout” as I would say in my bad French.  Sticking cloves in onions is very French (Mutz used to put an onion with cloves in it in the pot when she cooked lima beans. This habit probably stems from the middle ages when cooks used sweet and savory spices in a different way than we do today.  Sweets and savories weren’t so cut and dried back in the day.  There was more flexibility and openness to the idea of flavors enhancing each other.)

Peel, trim and cut into a few large pieces 3-4 carrots and a couple of stalks of celery. Add these to the pot too. Continue to let simmer.

Add 3-4 cloves of garlic, peeled.

Scour your kitchen for some tasty treats. You can throw in a couple tomatoes (cut out the parts that might be going a little off), some leek greens, a bay leaf or two, a spring of thyme or oregano that you might have in the cupboard.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Then add four or five cups of water. Let it come to a boil and reduce to a simmer.  If you are feeling really crazy and tapping into your inner Julia Child, you can add a good splash of white wine. Alcohol is another of those magic ingredients whose molecules help enhance and disperse flavor throughout the dish. Let it cook for 20 minutes or so. then turn off the heat and let cool.  Strain the stock.  Since it is all vegetable matter, you can compost the vegetables or you can just throw them away. (Make sure they are well drained or are put in a plastic bag that can contain the moisture so your garbage can doesn’t get all wet and gross.)

Refrigerate or freeze the stock. Or use right away.

Bon appetit!