Leeks

Aside from leek and potato soup, or leeks wrapped in bacon, what can I do?

Have you forgotten Cock-A-Leekie???

Are you sure you're Scottish??

Quiche

in southern France a standard plate de jour often included leeks as a side, with various sauces. one with something involving egg yolks and mustard I think (geez I'm a big help, huh?). Also had them with vinegrette. think asparagus. yumyumyum. I can never get them tender enough for that sort of thing though.

leeks RULE!

1. Put a little olive oil in a frying pan. Add whole trimmed leeks. Brown gently, turn over and brown other side. Add a little red wine, s & p. Cover the pan and cook gently. Turn the leeks over and continue cooking until tender. Towards the end lift off the lid to reduce the wine to a very little thick juice.
   2. Cut the leeks into 3 cm pieces. Put olive oil in frying pan and add leeks. Add crushed garlic, s & p. Cover pan and cook until tender. At the end add a spoonful of white sugar and some fresh lemon juice, stir well.
   3. Boil whole small leeks until tender. Lay them in a baking dish. Make a roux with butter and flour. Add milk, then a little concentrated chicken stock. Add chopped fresh tarragon (if you have some). Mix in some grated gruyere or emmental. Pour the sauce over the leeks and put a little more grated cheese on top. Cook under the grill until the sauce is bubbling and browning.
   4. Cook very thin young leeks until tender. Let go cold. Serve on a dish topped with chopped hardboiled egg, chopped parsley, lemon and olive oil.
   5. Cut leeks into 3 cm lengths. Put in a frying pan with olive oil. Add come chopped onion and crushed garlic. Add a couple of spoonfuls of good tomato sauce/coulis. Add a little chicken stock. Cover and cook for about 25 minutes.
   
   That should get you started.

braised as you would for celery, though the problem is cleaning them and keeping them intact.

Layered with potato slices and baked with stock, forgotten what that's called now.

barbecued (before the meat - take the blackened outer leaves and enjoy)

or as mentioned above, steamed and served with vinaigrette.

or finely chopped and stirred in a pan with some pepper and turmeric. excellent to combat colds.

in a stew.

put one in squash soup.

in a stir-fry...

Stir fry with finely chopped garlic in olive oil.Add shelled prawns,mussels,crab meat or slices of chicken pork or beef.Put in pieces of sliced leeks and mix in the wok or frying pan until slightly soft but not overcooked. Add a tiny tea spoon of corn flour in a cup of water and pour into mixture as thickner. Drizzle some sesame oil and add a few drops of soya sauce, pepper and salt to taste.Good with boiled rice or with toast.

I saw Hubert Keller do this on a cooking show yesterday. It looked fabulous. He talked about different ways to serve it--the way it's done in his restaurant is to put a toasted slice of bread in a bowl, top with a poached egg, and put the soup around it. The soup can also be served cold. Despite the name, it includes leeks. Garlic and Saffron Soup

You can use leeks in just about any soup. Try replacing onions with likes in any recipe--just don't saute leeks very long as they will turn bitter. Don't let them brown. Braised chicken with leeks. Colcannon (mashed potatoes with leeks and kale or cabbage.)

Ah, here we go. Rosti with steamed haggis wrapped in leek

AS #5 says, with plenty of butter, a little lemon juice,and a little little sugar.

Thanks for all replies.

Not least the cock-a-leekie reminder.

Special mention for Baz's no.3.

I like cogito's suggestion and yer dead right about the cleaning!

Also, I like auntie's bbq idea and removing the charred outer leaves - and I can see leeks and egg yolk working (yes, it was helpful) as well as quiche. (On quiche: I used to hate it until I tasted a really good home-made one; and what an eye-opener.)

tribolite's Chinese-esque approach I wouldn't have thought of - but in view of the garlic, ginger, spring onion trio, then leeks make sense.

I agree about not browning, 'trax (I only ever 'sweat' leeks, when not in a rolling boil) - and thanks for the Keller notes.

I'm going to have to try the lemon/sugar idea - if only cos, without wishing to sound ungrateful, I can't see it working :)

Thanks again.

Roast it....

Thank ye, broc.

tonya001, try this version of the lemon/sugar recipe. It's delicious.

Thanks, FluffyGoat - might just do that.

I like them just chopped and cooked gently in butter. Goes well with meat, fish, sex, poultry, or carrot and lentil loaf.

Nice in a risotto, especially with smoked salmon.

Stir-fry in butter, and sprinkle with nutmeg and black pepper.

Leeks au gratin.