Leeks are more than just a soup ingredient. Yesterday I made the salmon and leeks dish and suddenly realized how much recipes I have with leeks. Here's a few things you can do with them. Hope you enjoy them.
Let's agree on all of the dishes below; we use the white part with a slight bit of the green left. The top green goes in your soup.
Also, cut leeks first, then wash them. There might be a lot of dirt and sand in them.
Leeks need to be just soft, no crunchy modernism like al dente!
1. Leeks wok with salmon and potato;
- quarter leeks lenghtwise, then in chunks
- put oil in the wok and heat to medium, add 1/4 teaspoon of each; mustard seeds (black+white) + coriander seeds + caraway seeds + fenegric seeds. Fry and stir slowly until mustard seeds start to pop.
- add leeks with some drops of washing water still on. Let fry on medium heat and toss regularly.
- when done; add a few drops of vinegar and a 2 tbsp of cream, stir
- while leeks are on the fire, fry salmon chunks separately in a frying pan on high heat. Salt & dip topside in sesame seeds. Fry cooked and cooled potato cubes in another pan at high heat.
2. Leeks wok and beef;
- same cutting as above
- same procedure with spices as above, but this time I used only black mustard seeds and cumin seeds
- same as above for the frying until soft.
- when done; add a few drops of vinegar and 2 tbsp of shoyu (Japanese soy sauce)
- marinate chunks of beef in sunflower oil + pepper + thyme + garlic. Remove garlic and fry quickly in a separate frying pan on high heat. Salt.
3. Pork and leeks;
- this time, cut leeks in chunks
- sweat in butter, add a bottom of chickenstock and let braise until leeks are soft (put tip of a knife in to test)
- when done, add cream and a little turmeric and let reduce some. Add a little more chickenstock if necessary
- pork; marinate in oil + pepper + crumbled dried sage. Fry in hot pan until colored, cover with aluminiumfoil and let fry on very low heat until done.
4. Leeks gratin;
- this time cut leeks in 5 inch long chunks
- boil or braise until soft
- wrap in thin slices of ham
- cover with Mornay (béchamel + cheese) and let gratin in the oven.
5. Leeks quiche;
- cut leeks in chunks and sweat in butter or oil until soft. Same for any other veggie in there (I added left-over aubergine)
- put a sheet of puff pastry in a mold. No pre-baking needed.
- fill with veggies, (fried)bacon, cheese... whatever you like in there. This is a veggie pie, not a cream pie, so you should add a lot of veggies etc.
- cover with egg/cream mixture. Ratio 1 egg per 250 ml. Add another yolk for smoothness. (You mostly will need no more than 250 ml cream)
- 180°C/350°F for around 45 minutes. Lift the bottom gently with a long knife or so, it has to be nicely colored before removing from the oven!
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