About this site

Piers and Lin du Pré bought their new Fleming 55 / 129, Play d'eau, in 2003.

She was berthed in Beaucette Marina, Guernsey in the Channel Islands at N49° 30’.197 W002° 30’.350 until she was sold in October 2021.

This site charts the thrilling adventures they had in her.

You can contact us here.

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If the new owners have the AIS on, you can find where Play d'eau is right now.

Click here.

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Recent Posts

Vegetable Stock

All ingredients trimmed, peeled and chopped
and in the pot
click to enlarge


Stock forms the basis of so many good onboard recipes, and the good news is you only really need vegetable stock. No chicken or meat stock, just vegetable.

Our recipe has been refined over the years and never lets us down and produces a gorgeous concentrated stock which works brilliantly with many of the recipes we’ll be adding as time goes by.

It’s packed with flavour and keeps really well in the fridge for a good three weeks and almost for ever in a freezer. It also scales well if you want to make less or more at a time.

So please don’t use stock cubes or any other form of instant stock which all pale into insignificance in comparison.

Vegetable Stock

Ingredients

6 Carrots
3 Large leeks with as much white as possible
2 Small fennels
3 Small onions
2 Parsnips
8 Button mushrooms
3 Celery stalks plus the very small leaves close to the stalks
Small bunch of Parsley stalks (no leaves)
Rosemary (some)
Pepper corns (say 30)
Bay Leaves (a few)
Thyme (some)

Simmering gorgeousness.
Leave for 2 hours or more
with the lid on but just cracked open
click to enlarge

Technique

The ‘Dos’ and ‘Don’ts’ of brilliant stock making.

  • Do peel and trim the vegetables as if you were going to eat them
  • Don’t let the stock boil, just simmer
  • Don’t use the dark green parts of the leek
  • Don’t squeeze or mash the vegetables to extract extra liquor
  • Don’t add salt. Instead, add salt when creating the final dish
You’ll need

A large saucepan with a lid (in which to make the stock), a smaller saucepan into which to strain the stock, kitchen knife, wooden spoon, sieve, clean muslin or dish cloth, storage containers (half litre recommended) for the finished stock.

Making perfect veg stock

Clean, peel and trim the vegetables. Cut them into half inch squares or smaller and put them in the pot. Clean and slice the mushrooms and add them to the pot with the herbs and pepper. Add water to half an inch below the top of the vegetables.

Bring to the simmer, making sure the herbs are underneath the surface (use the wooden spoon). Keep it simmering for two or more hours.

Keep the lid on the pot, but just cracked open to allow some of the steam to escape.

You’ll find the vegetables start to shrink allowing the water to cover them. If you need to add a bit more water, only add enough to keep the vegetables just covered.

When cool, strain the liquor through the sieve and muslin (or tea cloth) into another pan. Let it drain – don’t squeeze the remaining vegetables.

Finally, pour your stock into containers and use as and when needed. You’ll have about 1.5 ltrs of strong concentrated stock which can be diluted as required.

Perfect!

Piers and Lin
from the Galley of
Play d’eau
Fleming 55

You can get in touch with us any time by using our Contact Form.

3 comments to Vegetable Stock

  • Hil

    I can vouch for this stock.It is a beautiful stock which should be used instead of water whenever possible.It makes an enormous difference even to things like pastry.It enhances recipes-never overwhelmes. Hil x x

  • Hil

    Why leave the lid a crack open? Surely,if it’s left on there would be no evaporation.And at a simmer it won’t boil over.x x

  • Hi Hil. If the lid’s closed it will splutter and spit condensed steam onto the cooker. Leaving the lid open a crack prevents this – hopefully!

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