Vegetable Stock

After being in my garden yesterday, with all the beautiful asparagus poking through the soil I had one thing on my mind when I woke up-asparagus terrine.  One of my new Spring menu dishes is a scrambled egg cannoli filled with asparagus custard, topped with local prosciutto, asparagus ribbons, asparagus terrine, toasted yeast a butter sorbet and a globe of lemon cream.  I'm making the vegetable stock for a terrine base to bind the asparagus.  This is the recipe:
10 carrots peeled and chopped
3 leeks, white parts only
1 shallot chopped
1 clove of garlic chopped
3 Roma tomatoes chopped
2 sweet onions chopped
1 fennel bulb chopped
20 green peppercorns
salt to taste
8 sprigs of thyme
3 bay leaves
1 sprig of basil
1 sprig of oregano

Saute all chopped vegetables in a touch of canola to sweat them down, add peppercorns and salt, continue to sweat until rich in color.  Add water to cover the top about 6 inches, bring to a boil, let simmer for two hours.  Strain.  Once it is strained I will clarify this stock and then put it in small containers and freeze it.  You can do the same, just remember that veggie stock will lose it's flavor faster than other stocks so use quickly.  Freezing is good for this amount.  You can also change the recipe by adding different herbs, etc.  I chose these for added flavor, typically a sachet of parsley, thyme and bay is  common.