Leek, a winter vegetable, here are three dishes.
If you have grown up in the northern part of Europe, you would have had quite a bit to do with leeks. After all, it is one of the few green vegetables available in winter. To be fair, as a child, I did not like them so much. Now, it is different, I like their versatility and in winter I like using them in various dishes.
L’euf cocotte
L’oeuf cocotte is a bit like the onion tarte, a winter warmer. It is simple and easy to make. Make it as an entry or a main. The bottm, underneath the egg is where you will find the leek. The leek has been cooked slowly and has like melted to a soft conistency, and so tasty! Recipe HERE.
The typical northern France soup
Poireau, carotte, pomme de terre, that is leek, caroot, potatoe. This is the classic soup from northern France. The potatoe helps binding the carott and the leek. For 6 people, you will need one leek, 1 large potato and 2 carotts. Peel, clean and cut the vegetables, place them in a saucepan with one tablespoon of rock salt and cover with water. Cook until tender and blend.
You can add a spoon of sour cream in each soup plate or bowl when serving.
Also note, there is no ned to use chicken or vegetable stock, this would only add salt and there is plenty taste as is.
The flamiche or leek tarte
This is a tarte, not a quiche. That means there is only one or two eggs and a little cream. It is rather light. You will need at least two leeks. Similarl than for the oeufs cocotte above, you need to melt them in a covered pan. In the meanwhile, prepare a shortcrust pastry and place it over a tarte dish. the pastry doesn’t need to be pre-cooked.
When the leeks are ready, remove from the heat. Still in the frypan, add salt and pepper to taste, a pinch or cumin or nutmeg is desired. Add 1 large tablespoon of flour, 2 eggs and up to 150 mL of cream. Mix all and put over the pastry. Cook at 180°C.
While I get around t0 do it for my blog, taking ice photos and posting a recipe, I am sharing one recipe from the Delicious magazine which doesn’t look so bad, although uses way more cream than the “real” flamiche.
Other cooking photos the last few weeks
I had been struggling with my croissants, the lamination (layeing of butter and dough for the non-techical) never seemed to work well. Last weekend it did, there is something to do with controlling temperatures, I will make more soon to make sure it was not a happy accident!
There are also these beautiful sourdough baguettes that seem to slide out of my oven twice a week.
