I have been pulling some cute leeks out of my garden, anything smaller that regular grocery store size are labeled “cute.” I think their growth was stunted from the first two months they grew without any fertilizer in beautiful black soil with a high pH and that was major lacking in nutrients, particularly nitrogen. They taste as good as ever and having used up all my potatoes (lest you think I am lying, those are turnips in the background) and not really being soup season anymore, I have created a new way to use this cute winter crop.As pictured here, I served it on top of salmon (Costco’s Wild Atlantic). This adds great flavor to a simply prepared piece of fish or chicken. As a stand alone side dish, I spooned the creamed leeks into small crème brulee dishes. Any little ramekin would do, or a pie dish to serve the whole family. I sprinkled each one with swiss cheese and bread crumbs and broiled for 2 minutes. We have a little toaster oven that works great for this. It is really yummy! We have a rule that anything you pick from the garden, you have to eat. Layne has been busy pulling up leeks.
3 regular or 8 “cute” leeks
1 tablespoon butter
½ teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
½ cup cream
Cut off leek roots and spilt in half lengthwise. Swish around in a bowl of water to get all the dirt out. Chop into small pieces, discarding the dark green parts that are tough. Melt butter in pan over medium high heat. Add leeks and cook for 2 minutes stirring frequently. Turn heat down to medium low and cook for 10 minutes, stirring every three minutes or so. Add salt, pepper and cream. Stir and continue to cook until the dish is thick and all water has evaporated. Serve over a simply prepared fillet of fish or chicken.
This post is part of GNOWFGLINS Tuesday Twister, Whole Foods for the Holiday's and Real Food Wednesday hosted by Kelly the Kitchen Kop
looks delicious! hope to try it soon! thanks for the recipe. :)
ReplyDeleteKara,
ReplyDeleteHow is your garden doing? Is it surviving the bugs and rodents? I have two fat squirrels I have been chassing away for a few days now. Did you get rid of yours?
Layne told Jimmy and myself once that Leeks were his favorite food, and that you can make them taste real good.
ReplyDeleteWe haven't ever had leeks, but definitely want to try this recipe!
Thanks for asking about my garden. There are always bumps along the way. My mom took care of the squirrel for me ;)Green beans and tomatoes have some sad leaves from the bugs, but I have been cutting those off and all the regrowth looks really good. My little stinker turned my water valve off sometime in the last couple days, I revived them today. I'll have to do a post update soon.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your squirrels, they are relentless. If you can, cover what they are getting into with netting, it deters them, but once they find something that is tasty, you have to take them out or they keep coming back until it is all gone!
Jessica, Layne is a crack up when he is not causing trouble:)
funny that you called your leeks cute.
ReplyDeletei grew leeks last year and they were as tiny as green onions. and i had the most nitrogen rich soil possible. so i dont know ---maybe they need to mature.
i have to confess that i didnt pull them out all winter long and i just pulled them out in the spring to make room for other new stuff---and they were nice and huge, just like in the grocery store. so im guessing that maybe they need to mature for a while.
we had like 30 of them@! i should have learned how to can them or something. want to know how your "mom took care of the squirrel" we have families of them!! they are so annoying!!
Leeks really don't need much nitrogen to grow, but lucky you for having such great soil! Not true here. I would say clean and freeze them next time. My mom is an Iowa girl with great "pest deterant" skills to "take care of" small animals.
ReplyDelete