Fish Broth #01

I knew I did good to keep all those shrimps shells in my freezer from past recipes.  I had two medium bags full so I thought this could be the right time to use them.   What’s fun and so easy about making your own broth is that you can make it with pretty much everything: shells, bones, even the head and the tail of the fish you previously cooked.  Keep everything in the freezer and you’ll be happy you did once you try this recipe or create your own.  Homemade broth is so much better than the store version because you are 100%  sure of everything in it, you’ll be able to customize it and control the salt quantities.

Ok this one is going in to the kitchen basics section because even if it’s sort of a recipe, I find making broth is part of the basic of cooking.  There is so many different ways to make broth, like I’ve said, and this is why I wrote this one as #01.

Now be adventurous and try to customize your broth by adding different ingredients.  You can modify it to  better match the final recipe you have in mind and this could be the difference between a good meal and an awesome one.   I created this broth for a fish soup/dinner I made few weeks ago when I had some friends over.  The soup came out amazing and it’s in big part because of this broth.  The recipe will be on the blog shortly so stay tuned and enjoy this one 🙂

This recipe will give you one full regular size masson jar and a bit more that you will be able to keep in the fridge.  Since the recipe is custom, I don’t suggest you try to can it but maybe with a pressure canner it would become safe enough for shelf storage but I haven’t tried.  I kept my masson jar in the fridge and almost used the entire thing when I made my soup.  I hope you enjoy this recipe.

– INGREDIENTS –

5 1/2 cups of empty shrimps shells

1 yellow onion, in big slices

2 carrots

1 fresh jalapeno pepper, cut in big quarters

7 cups of water

3 branches of silver thyme

pinch of big salt – optional

1- Bring a big enough pan with a lid on the stove top, open the heat to medium high and mix all the ingredients together, cover it.

2- Once the mix is boiling, reduce the heat to low and cover it again.  Let the whole mixture gently simmer for 5-6 hours.  You can let it simmer longer if you want to.

3- Filter the broth and discard all the shrimps shells and veggies.