Topic: Leek recipes?

[artichoke]

I have a leek glut at the moment. The 40 or so I have recently pulled have been chopped, blanched and frozen for adding to pies, quiches, soups etc and some show early signs of developing flowering stems. About 60 remain and need using fast, so any ideas?

[winecap]

I love leeks wrapped in ham or bacon, cooked in a cheese sauce in the oven. Add one garlic clove and one bay leaf to the cheese sauce. Fantastic. I usually serve with boiled potatoes and seasonal greens with enough cheese sauce to spread around a bit. Sadly I have finished my leeks and will have to wait some time before I can eat this again.

[Obelixx]

Have a look at the BBC Good Food website and enter leek in the search box - about 200 recipes.  The BBC Food website has almost 500 recipes so you should find some inspiration there.

[ThomsonAS]

Give some to neighbours/workmates/friends!  I mean, leeks are fine but are you really that fond of them?  Same with courgettes - my family now rations the number I plant having endured several years of gluts!

[Obelixx]

You just have to be inventive and not do the same old recipes every time or people do get bored.    Leeks can be used in soups, stews, gratins, tarts, quiches and all sorts and courgettes are very versatile in fritters, curries, roast with other Mediterranean veggies, soufflé, cakes........   

New recipes and ideas pop up all the time on the internet so no excuse for boring repetition.

[galina]

Leeks cooked in a little water.  Make white sauce or cheese sauce using some of the cooking water.  Cook rice, mix with the leeks in sauce, grated cheese on top and in the hot oven until the cheese has melted. 

[artichoke]

Thanks! Excellent suggestions and shall have one of them tonight having pulled another 15 yesterday. 25 still in the ground, but fairly small.

[Yorkshire Lass]

9 oz leeks
9 0z savoy cabbage
1 butternut squash
3 oz penne pasta
1 pint cheese sauce made with a mixture of mature cheddar and red leiester.

Par boil leeks and cabbage, roast chunks of butternut squash to caramalize, cook pasta fo 9 mins.  layer all in ovenproof dish. Pour over cheese  sauce and sprinkle about 3 oz of  mixed grated cheese on top. Bake for 30 mins.

Serve as vegetarian dish or as a vegetable dish to go with roasts.

Yummy

YL

[artichoke]

It's a bit late now (though I still have a few leeks in the ground) but I thought I'd pass on that a spanakopita has swallowed up two or three leeks, finely sliced and lightly pre-cooked. If you don't know spanakopits, there are precise recipes on the internet. I value it for using up quantities of chopped spinach beet (I have great fountains of it, like most people at the moment), sorrel, the leeks, chopped herbs of every sort, feta cheese (or any cheese, no need to be authentic) plus a couple of eggs and one layer of pastry on top (I find the usual two layers a bit heavy, unless using filo pastry, which I didn't have).

It's absolutely delicious, and people who turn up their noses at a heap of spinach on the plate seem perfectly happy to eat the spanakopita.

I have spent several Easters in Greece, and it is fun to see the mountainside swarming with people out from Athens etc bottoms up in the weeds, carrying on the tradition of collecting basketfuls of leaves for their special spring treat.

[galina]

Artichoke,  I never knew about Spanakopita.  But have a glut of chard at the moment.  Instead of the pastry cover (too much carbohydrates for my diet) I intend using a covering of a folded thin one-egg omelet.

Sorry this is a complete thread drift, but wanted to let you know that your suggestion has fired up my imagination for a way of using up what is plentiful at the moment, ie chard, various spring onions and 'green garlic' (the garlics I missed digging up last year and which have sprouted strongly), also Babington leeks.   

[artichoke]

Delighted you are pleased with the idea of spanakopita and using up chard/spinach beet. And yes, I also threw in rogue shallots that were hidden among the weeds, and some garlic popping up in the wrong place. Also handful of sage, purple fennel, thyme, mint, the lot. My very loosely followed "recipe" included cardamom and cumin seeds among other mild spices, and I particularly like coming across a softened cooked cardamom pod.