Sweet Potato Casserole

I saw a similar recipe in the Sainsbury’s magazine, but it had a lot of dairy and various spices we didn’t want, so I adapted it quite a bit. It was nice for a cold day.

 

Ingredients:

oil

1 leek

2 shallots

1 tsp sugar or maple syrup

4 sweet potatoes

75 g margarine (I used Pure spread)

75 g flour

500 ml milk (I used rice milk)

2 eggs

1 tbsp parsley

1 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp mustard

2-3 tsp other herbs and spices (I used a bit of ginger and a bit of curry powder; I think tikka spice, mint, etc could work too)

1 tbsp lemon juice

 

Instructions:

1. Oil the pan.

2. Wash and dice the leek and shallots and cook over low heat. Add the sugar or maple syrup to get a sweeter flavour.

3. Peel and slice the sweet potatoes.

4. Melt the margarine. Add the flour, whisking.

5. Let cool, then add the milk and eggs, whisking until smooth. Season with the various herbs and spices and lemon juice.

6. Put the leek, shallots, and sweet potatoes in the pan, and pour in the sauce.

7. Bake at 180 C for 45-60 minutes, until the potatoes are tender and the top is slightly golden.

Leek Soup

This was a very simple recipe for a chilly day, delicious with fresh bread.

Ingredients:

2 leeks

oil

1 stock cube

2-3 small potatoes or 1 medium one

water

milk or cream (I used rice milk)

black pepper

mint

Instructions:

1. Wash and chop the leeks. Fry them lightly in the oil and crumble in the stock cube.

2. Wash and slice the potatoes and add them to the pan.

3. Add water and cook for 20-30 minutes (until the potatoes are tender).

4. Blend with a hand blender and add milk or cream to taste. Season with black pepper and mint to taste.

Green Stir-Fry

Green Stir-Fry

This can be endlessly varied, depending on what sort of veg or spices you have on hand. It’s fast for weekdays.

Ingredients:
1 leek
½ green garlic
1 courgette
½ cabbage
1 handful cherry tomatoes
oil
spice (curry paste, miso paste, soy sauce, sweet-and-sour sauce, etc)
noodles (I like rice noodles)

Instructions:
1. Wash the vegetables and dice them.
2. Stir-fry them in the oil and add the spice of your choice. Mix well.
3. When it is all nearly cooked, add in the noodles. Stir-fry for a couple more minutes, then serve.

Leek, Cheddar, and Sun-Dried Tomato Quiche

This is a very rich dish, so I wouldn’t make it too often. It’s loaded with eggs, cheese, and cream, which is what makes it tasty, but I can envision arteries getting clogged with each bite.

Yes, of course you can make your own pastry, but I bought it this time. Sometimes it’s just simpler to purchase the pastry. Shortcrust works better, I think, but I had puff pastry on hand and that was fine. In fact, M said she liked that it was a bit different.

Ingredients:
pastry (500 g) (short crust or puff)
oil
1 leek
2 tsp parsley
1 tsp lime leaves or basil or other herb
6 eggs
1 tbsp mustard powder
300 ml cream (single or double)
100 g sun-dried tomatoes
50 g mozzarella
100 g cheddar cheese
other vegetables (I had asparagus that I threw in, but next time I might use red pepper or spinach)
black pepper

Instructions:
1. Roll out the pastry.
2. Light grease an oven-safe pie dish or casserole dish. Place the pastry in it and use a fork to make a few indentations in the pastry.
3. Pre-bake the pastry for about 5 minutes at 190 C.
4. Meanwhile, dice the leek. Fry it lightly in oil with the parsley and other herbs.
5. Beat the eggs with the mustard powder and cream.
6. Chop the tomatoes, cheese, and any other vegetables. Mix them into the eggs, add the leek, and season with black pepper.
7. Pour the egg mixture over the pastry.
8. Bake for about 45 minutes at 170 C.

Spelt Pasta with Vegetable Sauce

After giving a talk in a nearby town, I stopped at a nearby posh grocery store. There, I found lots of miniature vegetables, which I guess people think are cuter and perhaps taste sweeter. A package of baby leeks was on sale, so I grabbed it. At home, I made a light, spring-like pasta sauce with the leeks and I included a bunch of asparagus M got at a local farm stand the other day. The dinner was very healthy (except for the fatty cheddar cheese, I guess) and M pronounced it “lovely”.

Ingredients:
5 baby leeks or 1 large one
olive oil
1 tsp sugar
5-8 cherry tomatoes
150 g spelt pasta
water
1 handful black olives
2 containers crushed tomatoes
1 bunch asparagus
cheddar cheese

Instructions:
1. Wash and chop the leek/s. Fry them lightly in olive oil and add the sugar.
2. Wash and halve the cherry tomatoes and add them to the leek/s.
3. Set the pasta to boil in the water.
4. Meanwhile, halve the olives and add them and the tomatoes to the leek/s.
5. When the pasta is almost done, add the asparagus to the pot. Boil for two more minutes. Drain the pasta and asparagus together.
6. Add the sauce to the pasta. Grate cheddar cheese over and serve.

Leek and Butternut Squash Gratin

As the seasons shift, I’m starting to use fewer heavy, wintry ingredients, such as squash, or I combine them with more spring-like things, such as leeks or asparagus or peas, which helps to lighten them up. Here, I’ve made a gratin with squash and leeks. It’s hearty enough for a chilly evening, but not so heavy that it sits in your stomach and makes you want to hibernate.

Ingredients:
3 leeks
oil
salt
pepper
mustard powder
½ butternut squash (roasted – use any leftovers you have from another dish)
150 g Gruyere or similar cheese
150 ml crème fraiche

Instructions:
1. Wash and slice the leeks, then fry lightly in the oil for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season with salt, pepper, and mustard powder.
2. Add chunks of the squash and continue to fry for another few minutes.
3. Oil a casserole dish. Shred or chop the cheese and add it and the crème fraiche to the vegetables.
4. Pour the vegetables into the casserole dish and bake for about 20 minutes at 200 C until golden brown.

Leek Tart

I like leeks but don’t use them often enough. So I decided to make a simple leek tart. I carmelised the leeks and then seasoned them with a bit of mustard (though horseradish or just black pepper would work too). I mixed in some creamy goat cheese and that was it. It was comforting, but it also was nice enough so that I could have served it to guests.

Ingredients:
4 leeks
oil
sugar
1 cup yogurt or buttermilk
mustard or horseradish or black pepper
125 g goat cheese
1 portion shortcrust pastry (see previous post)

Instructions:
1. Wash and cut the leeks into small pieces. Fry them lightly in oil, then add a bit of sugar so they carmelise.
2. After about 10 minutes, add the yogurt or buttermilk. Season with spices according to your taste.
3. Mix in the goat cheese.
4. Put the shortcrust pastry in the casserole dish. Pre-bake at 200 C for 5 minutes.
5. Add the leek mixture to the dish. Bake for 25-30 minutes at 200 C.

Leek, Spinach, and Artichoke Pie

Yet again I couldn’t sleep, so I sneaked out of bed and warmed up a croissant and sat down in the living room to flip through some food magazines. I don’t know why I thought reading recipes would make me sleepy, because really what happened is that I started getting ideas and I just wanted to run to the grocery store, get ingredients, and spend the rest of the night cooking.

I noticed a few recipes for pies with leeks and other vegetables. I love pies and casseroles and all such things, because a) they can be made in advance (even frozen for days or weeks, if necessary, before being warmed in the oven), b) they are pretty large, so there are always leftovers, and c) they are so comforting. They come out of the oven steaming and with a golden crust, luscious smells escaping from the dish. Yum.

I had a few leeks that needed to be used in a hurry, so I started thinking about what other vegetables I could have with them. And though it’s autumn, I thought that a very green pie would be nice. So it turned into a leek, spinach, and artichoke pie. I took out a piece of paper and scribbled a shopping list that I could give M in the morning. I asked her to pick up some blue cheese to add to it. I had Stilton in mind, but she got Shropshire Blue, and the slightly milder taste of the Shropshire worked really well with the pie. The whole thing turned out pretty well for a recipe created in the middle of the night.

Ingredients:
1 package puff pastry dough
3-4 leeks
olive oil
1 tsp sugar
500 g spinach (frozen or fresh)
6-8 artichoke hearts
200 g blue cheese
2 eggs
black pepper

Instructions:
1. Put the dough in a dish, oiling the dish if necessary. If you have more dough than fits in the dish, save some for a cover for the pie. Pre-bake the dough for 5 minutes at 200 C.
2. Chop the leeks and gently brown them in oil and sugar. Add the spinach. If it is frozen, defrost it first.
3. Chop the artichokes and crumble the cheese. Add them both to the leeks.
4. Lightly beat the eggs and mix them into the rest of the ingredients. Season with black pepper.
5. Put the mixture into the dish. If you had dough leftover, add it as a cover.
6. Bake for 20-30 minutes at 200 C.

Leek Soup

Still feeling under the weather, I long for soups. The other day, my grocery store was having a sale on local leeks that had been extra trimmed, which meant that I could be a lazy locavore, as not much work was required to get the leeks cleaned for usage. Leeks have a milder taste than onions and don’t make me cry when I cut them, so they’re good to use, even if the many layers to their peel can contain a lot of dirt. And that’s where the extra trimmed type comes in handy, because much of the cleaning has already been done.

While the soup was warming on the stove, M had the idea of toasting crumpets and lightly spreading them with butter and marmite. The salty, yeasty taste on the doughy bread was quite pleasant, and I loved dipping bits of my marmite-covered crumpet into the soup.

Ingredients:
3 leeks
1-2 onions
1-2 garlic cloves
olive oil
1 tbsp sugar
1 vegetable stock cube
500 ml water
100 ml single cream
black pepper

Instructions:
1. Wash and chop the leeks. Dice the onions and garlic.
2. Cook the leeks, onions, and garlic in olive oil in a large pot for about 10 minutes.
3. Add sugar and the crumbled stock cube and cook for another 5 minutes.
4. Add the water and boil.
5. Mix with a hand mixer until mostly smooth. It looks nice if you leave a few pieces in.
6. Add the cream, stir, and cook another 5-10 minutes over low heat.
7. Season with black pepper and serve with bread.