Life Behind the Curve

Wow…I come back from vacation and it’s like I don’t know how to do anything anymore. Sorry this post is delayed. On our drive back from Disneyland, we had to swing through the Bay Area to pick up our dogs that my parents had graciously entertained while we were gone. I called my mom in her office to tell her that we were there and about to leave and wouldn’t you know it, she said another bag of produce from their co-op had arrived. I went through the goods and decided to grab some leeks. I have made leek soup before but every time I told someone I was going to try leeks they said, “Yum, I love potato leek soup.” But, leeks aren’t just for soup, people.   

This is the scene that always comes in my head when I think of leeks. (Image from http://blu-ray.com)

 - EmmieJ  

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“What is a leek?” you may ask. Well, it looks like a green onion on steroids. It’s green leaves are tougher than an onion’s, however. It smells like a cross between onion and garlic but not as strong as either. It’s like a gentle giant. The leek is related to garlic and onion in the Allium family of vegetables. According to the World’s Healthiest Foods, a high intake of Allium vegetables can help lower bad cholesterol, raise good cholesterol, protect against a number of cancers, and stabilize blood sugar. And you know what? They taste good too.  

Seeing as I’m a lazy bones, I didn’t want to do something really complicated. I DO HAVE A VACATION TO RECOVER FROM! I started looking online for recipes and stumbled upon a leek salad recipe that looked yummy and easy. Woot! Double bonus: I had all except for one ingredient already in my cabinets. I headed over to Safeway and picked up two more leeks (the recipe calls for 8 but I halved it) and some tarragon.  

 Here’s what I used:  

Ingredients. Notice the huge leeks are from the organic co-op and the puny ones are the ones I got from Safeway.

It was really easy to make the salad. Here’s how:  

• Cut off green leaves and bottoms of white bulb from leeks. Slice once down the middle and finely chop.
• Cook in boiling water for 7 to 10 minutes. Remove, drain and immediately rinse in cold water.
• While leeks cook, prepare vinaigrette using 1/4 cup olive oil, 1/8 cup white wine vinegar, 1 clove of garlic (pressed), 1 sprig tarragon (finely chopped), 1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard, and freshly ground salt and pepper.
• Place drained leeks in bowl and toss with vinaigrette and voila…

Leek salad.

You’re supposed to “chill well” but I didn’t have time so I threw it in the freezer for a few minutes while I was dishing up and it was fine. I could see serving it to guests very cold but this worked for a quick mid-week family meal.  

Because of the vinegar, it ended up a bit like the kind of coleslaw that doesn’t have mayonnaise in it. Do you know what I mean? Pickly. It was about the same texture as the seaweed salad served at Japanese restaurants. Maybe a smidge crispier. If you wanted it more al dente, you could just cook it for a bit less time, I suppose.  

The moment of truth came when I set it on a plate with some spaghetti and mini-meatballs and garlic bread. The boys…drumroll please…ATE IT! Kind of. DJ had it with Caesar dressing (which he calls “spicy ranch”) on it. Weird, I know, but whatever, if there’s ranch dressing on something he’ll eat it so let’s go with it, shall we? He liked it so much he had leftovers the next day in his lunch. I was impressed. And excited.  

This recipe is definitely going to be added to our salad rotation. I hate making multi-ingredient salad during the week because of all the chopping. But this was so easy since it was just one vegetable. Plus, I imagine it’d be good with other pre-made or store-bought vinaigrettes as well so I may give that a whirl too. Anything to add some variety and deliciousness to our dinners.