Preparation

• For my vegetable broth I use onion or shallot, celery and other seasonal vegetables and greens I have in the pantry.
  It is also a recycling recipe very useful in the kitchen because it allows you to use outer parts, less tender or not perfectly fresh vegetables and greens, for example: outer leaves and stems, slightly wilted leafy lettuce, outer leaves, stems and fronds of fennel, parsley stems.

  About the carrot
  Cooking changes the glycemic index of the carrot: raw food IG 30, cooked food IG 85.
  You can add it for flavor and avoid eating it.

• Thoroughly clean and wash the vegetables:
  – onion or shallot;
  – celery stems and leaves;
  seasonal vegetables you have in the pantry, I use:
  – Swiss chard or red chard stems and leaves;
  – leek.

  Chard
  Remove damaged outer leaves and the tough fibrous lower part of the stalk.
  Thoroughly clean and wash leaves and stems, removing all traces of soil.

  You can add the vegetables cut into large pieces or chopped according to taste and needs.

• In a saucepan, pour 1 2/3 cups of water and add:
  – onion;
  – celery;
  – Swiss chard or red chard;
  – leek;
  and a pinch of salt.

  Cover with a lid (preferably glass), bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes.

• Your quick and light vegetable broth is ready.
  It is a clear, fat-free broth; filtering is not necessary.

  Use it with the vegetables, whole or puréed, or without.

• For brothy first courses, to avoid glycemic spikes, it is advisable to cook the pasta separately, then rinse it and add it to the brothy sauce prepared separately; this way the starch released by the pasta into the cooking water is removed.

  Cook the pasta separately from the broth.
  Drain and rinse it well under running water to remove the released starch.
  Combine it with the hot broth prepared separately.

  This reduces the glycemic load of the dish and makes it more manageable and lighter, without giving up the comfort of pasta in broth.

  Pasta in vegetable broth is a first course – a source of carbohydrates – easy to balance by adding a protein source and vegetables to compose a balanced meal or single-dish that helps keep blood sugar stable.

• Homemade vegetable broth is a natural, healthy and versatile basic ingredient for cooking and flavoring.

  It is perfect as a base for many vegetable, legume but also meat and fish recipes:
  – sauces, dressings and condiments;
  – soups, pasta or risottos;
  – couscous, fregola or paella;
  – appetizers, first and second courses;
  – stews and soups.