I had plans to make shrimp and okra gumbo today, but sadly there was no shrimp or seafood stock in the freezer. The trusty InstantPot to the rescue! I did have Gulf shrimp in the freezer and I continue to save vegetable scraps and peelings in freezer bags for such a time as this. I keep a gallon-size freezer bag handy and each time I peel an onion, scrape carrots or trim celery or bell peppers, the parts I don't use, go into the bag. When the bag gets full, I make veggie stock, or add bones from a rotisserie chicken and make chicken stock.
So first things first today. Sweet Harold helped me peel and devein two pounds of shrimp. Those shrimp shells will add a great flavor to the stock. Head-on shrimp would have been better, but I used what I had.
The vegetable scraps went into the inner pot of the Instant Pot first. I added two bay leaves and a tablespoon of whole black peppercorns.
Next, I placed the shrimp shells on top of the veggies.
Then I poured in 10 cups of hot water.
Place the inner pot into the Instant Pot. Lock on the lid and make sure the knob on top is set to sealing, not to venting.
Set the Instant Pot to 60 minutes on normal pressure. After the cooking cycle is complete, allow steam to naturally release.
Strain the liquid from the solids. Discard solids. Now you can either use your shrimp stock immediately or put it in freezer-safe containers to use when needed.
Good idea.
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