I like leeks. I like them a lot. But I don't cook with them nearly as much as I probably should. Probably because they do take a bit more work to prepare since there can be a lot of sand in between the upper leaves. Also, the leeks I usually see don't have a lot of the desirable white part and have a lot of the tougher, not so usable green part.
But last weekend as I was stocking up on food to avoid going shopping any more than necessary during the lock down (which will surely go more than two weeks), I saw that the leeks were exceptionally good looking so I bought them. I got around to cooking them yesterday. 99% of the time I buy leeks, I make potato leek soup, the foundation for the classic French potage. (When I was a student in France, the family I lived with served it as a first course for virtually every dinner.). But I was inspired to do something else. So I took my leeks and potatoes, added a lot of melted butter and roasted them in the oven for about an hour (30 minutes covered at 350 degrees and 30 minutes uncovered at 425 degrees).
The results were excellent. Leeks have such a distinctive aroma. It is like they are their own spice/herb combination. They require little other than salt and pepper. THEN, tonight, I took the leftovers, mixed them with broth, cooked and blended so we still got our potato leek soup. Which I might say was every bit as good as when it is made from the raw ingredients.
So I have made a little promise to myself to be more expansive in my use of leeks. Number one on my list to try will be doing classic chicken fricassee using leeks instead of onions.
2 comments:
I love leeks! But they are off the menu (fodmap..)
I love leeks too! Motivated by their high price, I have tried to grow then several times, to little success. However, we now have a Lidl grocery store nearby and they stock cheap leeks so I've been eating them more.
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