I bought some lovely leeks at the farmers’ market at the
weekend - young and tender they were indeed
- and naturally my thoughts turned to
potato and leek soup. Leeks have been used since ancient times, and it seems
that pottage of one sort or another is their usual final resting place. There
must be some other good ideas for good leeks, I thought, so I went looking –
just in case I end up with a glut of lovely leeks and get tired of lovely soup.
Here are a couple of my finds:
Pilchard and Leek Pie
Clean and skin the white part of some large leeks; scald
in milk and water, and put them in layers into a dish, and between the layers,
two or three salted pilchards which have been soaked for some hours the day
before. Cover the whole with a good plain crust. When the pie is taken out of
the oven, lift up the side crust with a knife, and empty out all the liquor;
then pour in half a pint of scalded cream.
A New System of Domestic Cookery (1808) by Maria Eliza Rundell.
Leek Flammish.
Cut up a dozen leeks (previously washed clean and free from
grit) into pieces half an inch long; place these in a basin with half a pint of
good thick cream, season with nutmeg, pepper and salt, and mix all well
together. Prepare a pound of short paste (No. 756) divide it into four equal
parts, mould these into balls, roll them out to the size and shape of
pudding-plates, and place them on a baking-dish or tin; with a paste-brush
dipped in water wet all round the edges of the paste, fill the centre of each
flat with enough of the prepared leeks to fill the flammish - when, by
gathering up the sides of the paste, each flat assumes the form of a puckered
purse; this must be secured by fastening the plaits together with a wetted
small circular piece of paste gently pressed upon their centre. Bake for half
an hour.
The Cook's Guide, and Housekeeper's & Butler's Assistant (1867) by Charles Elmé Francatelli.
This is clearly a flamiche
– a leek and cream tart which is a specialty of parts of Northern France and
Belgium.
1 comment:
Always glad to see recipes for leeks. I use them constantly in soups and stews, commonly replacing half the onions with leeks (green and white parts). The sad part is that here in Argentina the leeks tend to be thin (more like green onions) and, hence, lack the subtle flavor of nice fat ones. I think this is probably due to growing conditions, although I would have thought that Patagonia was fine for cold weather crops. We get lovely spinach, for example.
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