Leeks cleaned and gently braised in butter and white wine and seasoned with thyme, garlic and parsley.
Leeks are an aristocrat of a vegetable.
They need much of the year to grow, plenty of room, and tender loving care: they need to regularly shovel up soil around them to make that shank — the part you eat — grow long and white enough to be worthwhile. So when you find well-grown leeks, treat them like royalty.
braised leeks
Try to buy leeks with stems that are as long and white as possible. If you can only find short-shanked ones that are mostly green, don’t buy them—choose another recipe instead.
ingredients
-
4 to 6 Leek
-
1 clove garlicchopped
-
3 to 4 tablespoon unsalted butter
-
Salt
-
2 teaspoon fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried
-
1 teaspoon sugar
-
1 bay Sheet
-
1 Cup White wine or vegetable broth
-
1/4 Cup Parselychopped
method
-
Clean leek:
Cut off the ends of the leeks down to the stalk; A little of the light green part is fine, but not too much of it. If you’d like, you can store the unused part of the leeks in the freezer to make a broth later.
Cut the stalk of leeks lengthwise until you reach the root end – don’t cut through the root just yet. Rinse the leeks under cold running water as leeks are usually dirty. Once the leeks are free of dirt or grit, slice through the root to create two long pieces of leeks. (See How to clean leeks for photos and more details on cleaning leeks.)
-
Cooking leeks and garlic in butter:
Get a skillet large enough to hold the leeks in one layer and heat the butter over medium-high heat. When the butter has melted and started to foam, reduce the heat to medium and add the chopped garlic, then the leeks, cut-side down.
Fry for 1-2 minutes so they are lightly browned and the butter gets into the leeks.
Flip and sprinkle with salt, then fry the other side for 1-2 minutes.
-
Simmer with wine, bay leaf, sugar, thyme, salt:
Turn the leeks again so that the cut side is facing down, sprinkle the leeks with the sugar, the thyme leaves and a little more salt. Add the white wine with the bay leaf and simmer gently. Cover and cook over medium heat for 35-45 minutes.
-
Reduce braising liquid:
When the leeks are soft enough to be easily pierced with a knife blade, uncover the pot and bring the braising liquid to a boil. Let this reduce by half and then turn off the heat. Add the parsley, toss and serve.
Links:
Leek Vinaigrette here on Simply Recipes
| nutritional information (per serving) | |
|---|---|
| 224 | calories |
| 12g | Fat |
| 20g | carbohydrates |
| 2g | protein |
