Leeks…
…were the slowest thing in the garden. We’ve had two frosts, and some are still immature.
I took one out three days ago when I came up short an onion for some chili con carne, and the leek in place of the onion was a very nice chili surprise.
Daughter Jayme has had a few health problems, so today I made her (and me) a potato-leek soup. It’s come out so well I have to share it.
Ingredients:
2 leeks
2 large potatoes
1 scallion
fresh oregano
fresh rosemary
1 carrot
mushrooms
3 cubes chicken bullion
1 clove garlic
1 12-oz can evaporated milk
2 tbs olive oil
Salt
Black pepper
Put two quarts of water on to boil in a five-quart soup pot, and dissolve in the bullion cubes.
Chop the leeks, potatoes, scallion, mushrooms, and carrots.
Finely mince the garlic, oregano, and rosemary.
Throw in everything except the milk.
Add a palm-full of salt and about a tbs of black pepper.
Boil on high until the carrots and potatoes are tender.
Add the milk, turn down the heat, wait for the creamed soup to return to a very slow thickening boil.
Take it off the heat, uncovered and let it stand for about five minutes.
Eat.
gdenby:
We’re going to have to start calling you the fertile scholar.
Leeks are one of the best values for the small gardener. Don’t take much room, and the the extra effort to mound them up easily beats the market cost mark-up.
I make a similar variation of the soup. When my ovo-lactarian daughter is by, I use veg stock, works about as well as chix. After boiling, I puree the ‘taters and leeks. Creamy smooth even with reduced fat milk. Freezes pretty well, altho tends to clump up some.
gdenby
16 November 2007, 12:02 pmLegume Sam:
Around here there is a substance called “Hempmilk,” a “milk” made from crushed hemp nuts, that will substitute for cream or half-and-half or condensed milk or any of the concentrated milks.
& if you want a robust vegetarian broth, I’d imagine the water from boiled mustard greens would suffice…
16 November 2007, 4:47 pmBela Berg:
Leeks rule! I’ve grown them for 3 years now and these homegrown leeks are the best of the best. Nothing tops them as a flavor base for a soup, stew or risotto. They go divinely well with butternut squash in a lower-carb cousin of vichyssoise (squash instead of taters).
16 November 2007, 6:07 pmjanetw:
Wish I could send you some of the rosemary growing in my garden — I’ve got hedges! It’s beginning to flower (again) and it’s reassuring to see the bees working over the delicate blue blossoms. I’ll try your recipe next week.
16 November 2007, 8:46 pmhoward:
Any advice on growing leeks in a much hotter climate (ie Central Texas) with very heavy clay soil? We’re trying to get as much organic matter into the ground as we can in order to amend the clay, but so far we’ve had only very marginal success with the leeks. Onions do slightly better here it seems, esp if you plant them in the fall.
19 November 2007, 12:16 pm