Bone Broth

January came and went .. poof! 8 Broads “soup month” is over and I am still working on mine! Multiple snowstorms, the flu, colds flying around and more time to play in the kitchen than normal. That is the fun part! You can hardly open a magazine, your email in-box, or daytime TV without seeing something about bone broth. I subscribe to a ton of food blogs (surprise!) and when the email this week from Steamy Kitchen showed up I thought it was time to give this bone broth thing a try. The health benefits are said to be myriad and include fighting all the crud that was flying around. So following much of what Jaden suggested I pulled out 2 large pork bones from the freezer (yep, they were bio, hormone free and raised humanely!), dug out my crock pot and was in business. I will say that was about all I followed.  My research led me to believe that there are just a few  principles which are important… Good bones, an array of veggies or spices, lots of time for it to steep/simmer, and skimming and straining it well. The rest is up for grabs.
For my broth I used 2 large pork bones, the green part of 2 leeks, fresh turmeric (SCORE!!), ginger, and a whole head of garlic, albeit small. I cut the top off of the garlic head, washed the leeks really well, sliced the turmeric and ginger length ways in slices and loaded it all into a 6 qt crock pot which I then filled to the brim with water.
That was it. Turned it on low and left it be.
The next day I used a large slotted spoon to skim off all the veggies and any of the fatty pieces from the bones. It smelled absolutely wonderful. I had some crimini mushrooms in the fridge and some fresh baby kale.. and there you have it. Incredibly satisfying in this cold northeast winter.
This followed all week. Each evening I was surprised at how low the level was. Someone was drinking it! Last chore of the day I would throw veggies, celery, carrots, onions, lemongrass… whatever I had on hand. The flavors deepened and developed from day to day. It was amazing. Come Saturday, I strained everything and froze the remaining broth to use at a later time and then started all over again with a new bone.

Bone Broth
2 large pork bones
1 small head of garlic
Remains of 2 leeks
1   2 in piece fresh tumeric , sliced lengthwise (if you can find it. Skip it if you can’t)
1    2 in piece of fresh ginger, sliced lengthwise
2    1 tsp grey salt

To serve:
6 mushrooms per person, sliced
¼ cup fresh baby kale
Grey salt (or pink Himalayan, just choose one of the natural ones with all the minerals in it)
Freshly ground pepper (plenty of this)

To make the bone broth:
Slice the top off of the head of garlic. Do not bother to peel the rest of it
Wash the leeks well. They often have sand embedded in the rings
Slice the turmeric and ginger. No need to peel
Fill a 6 qt crock pot (or larger) with 2 pork bones, the leek, ginger, turmeric, and garlic.
Turn on and allow to cook on LOW for at least 18 hrs.
Slice the mushrooms and saute in a bit of butter or coconut oil till lightly browned
Place in the bottom of a soup bowl
Pile the baby Kale on top
Sprinkle with freshly ground pepper and the salt
Pour 1 ½ cups (in my case, 2 large dippers)of the steaming bone broth over top and allow to stand for a minute to wilt the kale
Add water back into the crockpot where the bones are. At this point you can add any other vegetable you may want, carrots, celery, or onion. This will round out the flavor. Forget about it until the next day. Continue for several days (I did a whole week) strain into a bowl using a fine mesh strainer.
Fill into containers and freeze. Use for soup or when a recipe calls for stock.( I used some straight from the crock pot for a fabulous risotto.)

The first 24 hrs, This is what it looked like in the morning.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/11/23/nourishing-bone-broth.aspx
.. for more reading on the benefits of bone broth.

Swiss Woods Bed anbd Breakfast
Debbie Mosimann
The Lititz PA Broad