Mushrooms, onions, and garlic are the main ingredients in this simple, yet highly flavourful and earthy mushroom stock. We make this regularly to either use a flavourful liquid and/or we drink it instead of coffee.
NOTE: This recipe doesn’t actually need a recipe. You are essentially making a flavourful mushroom tea. The amount of mushrooms you use really doesn’t matter. If you only had 2 cups of mushrooms, you could make this recipe, it just depends on how much you want to make.
As for the garlic and onions, these play a supporting role to the mushrooms, so they should be scaled down or up, depending on how many mushrooms you use. The tomatoes simply add a bit more depth and flavor; however, the stock is perfectly delicious without them as well.
This is a great recipe to experiment with to see what you like. If you really like the earthiness of wild mushrooms, add some of those to the stock as well. If you are wanting to add a bit of an Asian flavor profile, add a bit of fresh ginger as well.
For the seasoning, this stock is meant to be quite neutral, but feel free to season it as you wish. Add salt and/or black peppercorns as desired.
To make the stock, add all of the ingredients to a stockpot and cover with 1 1/2 times the amount of water to mushrooms. Basically, you want to fully cover the mushrooms, plus a bit more. The amount of water is not really exact — the less water that is added, the stronger the stock will be in the end.
Bring the stock to a gentle boil and then reduce the heat and let simmer for 1 to 2 hours. Taste the stock from time to time, once you have reached the desired flavor and the mushrooms have released all of their flavor, the stock is ready.
Lastly, strain the stock and taste for seasoning.
This stock will keep for several days in the refrigerator, or it can be frozen. Use this stock to cook things like soups or grains or simple pour it into a mug and drink it throughout the day. It makes for a healthy and satisfying alternative to coffee.
Note: What to do with the leftover vegetables? We do a second boil. By this I mean, we strain the stock and then do the whole process over again. The second stock won’t be as strong, but it’s great for cooking with. It can even be reduced, to concentrate the flavor — sometimes the second boil, once reduced, is so flavourful that we drink that too :-)