Ways with leeks

This year our allotment grown leeks on plot 10b have done fantastically well. We have never before been harvesting our leeks before Christmas and they are huge too! We also have more of them growing on plot 8, we should be pulling those up in the new year. I don't know why they have done so well, maybe an earlier sowing, better soil now we have a new allotment, a good source of manure, but whatever the reasons, we are really enjoying our leeks.

Leeks are one of my favourite vegetables, there are so many ways to cook and enjoy them. Sliced thinly and stir fried they go well with fish or chicken dishes. Leeks are also a good addition to vegetable soups, leek and potato soup is especially great at this time of year.

One of my favourite leek recipes is leeks and bacon in a cheese sauce:

Fry some streaky bacon pieces until crisp, then cut the leeks into chunks and fry gently until softened. Put the leeks and bacon in an ovenproof dish, add cheese sauce and top with grated cheese. Cook in the oven at gas mark 7/425F/220C until the cheese topping is bubbling and golden.

This week I made a cheese and leek flan using an old Cranks recipe. If you're as old as me you may remember the Cranks vegetarian restaurants. I have a couple of their recipe books.

Leek and cheese flan
Serves 4--6

10oz/300gr wholemeal shortcrust pastry
2 large leeks
1oz /25gr butter
large pinch cayenne 
large pinch ground nutmeg
3 eggs
3floz/75ml milk
3floz/75ml soured cream
large pinch salt
6oz/175gr cheddar cheese

Line a 9"/23cm flan tin with the pastry.
Clean and thinly slice the leeks.
Saute the leeks in melted butter until tender. Season with cayenne and nutmeg. Leave to cool.
Whisk the eggs, milk, soured cream and salt together.
Sprinkle half the cheese over the base of the flan.
Spread the leeks on top and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
Pour the egg custard over the flan.
Bake in the oven at 200C/400F/gas mark 6 for about 30 to 40 minutes until risen and golden.

Wholemeal pastry may not be to everyone's taste, it is a bit heavy, but I'm sure that this recipe works just  as well with normal shortcrust pastry.
I used normal double cream and Lancashire cheese because that's all I had.

Do you have any good recipes for using leeks?

Summer berries

 

There are lots of berries in the garden at the moment, that's if they've not been eaten by slugs in the very wet weather we've been having. Strawberries, raspberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants, they're all delicious. My favourites are strawberries and raspberries. You can just eat them as they are, with cream or ice cream, or make them up into flans, sorbets, mousse, cheesecake, the list is endless. I found this recipe for a berry compote whilst I was going through my recipe file the other day.  It's really easy to make and will keep in the fridge for several days.

Berry Compote
serves 6
8oz (225g) strawberries
8oz (225g) raspberries
4oz (100g) redcurrants
4oz (100g) blackcurrants
6oz (150g) sugar
3/4 pint (375ml) red wine
1 cinnamon stick
pinch grated nutmeg

1. Pick over the soft fruits, discarding hulls, stems and leaves. Quarter strawberries
2. Put the sugar in a large pan with the wine. Stir over a low heat until dissolved
3. Add prepared fruits, cinnamon and nutmeg. Simmer for 5 mins or until fruits are softened but still hold their shape.
4. Leave until cold. Spoon into dish, cover and chill for 1 hour.
5. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream.

 Nutrients per serving
calories 180 protein 0g total fat 0g (saturated fat 0g) carbohydrate 35g fibre 6g


I didn't have any redcurrants, so I used extra of the other fruit. I used last year's raspberries and blackcurrants  from the freezer it was a good way of using them up to make room for the this year's harvest. I didn't have any red wine so used up some port we had in the drinks cabinet. More expensive and probably a sweeter taste, but was  delicious and very boozy! Probably too boozy, I'll try with wine next time!

Yummy rhubarb

When I picked some rhubarb from the allotment the other day, I remembered that years ago I used to make a lovely spicy crumble. I searched my recipes and was amazed to find I still had the original recipe in an old and battered scrapbook. It really is delicious especially with cream, but also lovely with custard, ice cream, or on its own. So here it is, sorry there are no metric measurements, but it is an old recipe.

Spicy rhubarb crumble

Ingredients

1-1 ½ lb rhubarb

1oz brown sugar (demerara or light brown, not the very dark kind)

¼ teaspoon ginger

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

For the crumble topping:

3oz flour

3oz brown sugar

2oz butter

Pinch of salt

¼ teaspoon ginger

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 400 gas mark 6.

Wash and slice the rhubarb into 1inch lengths then put this into a pie dish

and sprinkle with 1oz of brown sugar and ¼ teaspoon of ginger and the same of nutmeg.

For the crumble top, mix the flour, sugar, salt and spices together, add the butter and work together until the mixture is crumbly.

Then spread it over the rhubarb in the dish so that the fruit is completely covered.

Place in the oven on a baking tray and cook for about 30—40minutes or until the fruit is cooked and the top well browned.

Serve warm or cold.

I've since realised that the crumble mix ingredients need to be doubled in order to completely cover the fruit

Cheese and Vegetable Bake

I found a great recipe today for a vegetable bake which used most of the vegetables I had picked recently from the allotment.  It was delicious and got the thumbs up from my husband, so I thought I would share it with you.


Cheese and Vegetable bake


  Ready in 1 hour 30  mins

Ingredients

Serves: 4

• 4 to 5 potatoes, peeled and sliced
• 2 shallots, finely chopped
• 50g (2 oz) butter
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1/2 (200g) bag curly kale
• 1 leek, sliced into rings
• 1/2 (300g) bag trimmed green beans
• 1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
• For the cheese sauce:
• 15g (1/2 oz) butter
• 1 tablespoon plain flour
• 250ml (8 fl oz) milk
• 200g (7 oz) mature Cheddar cheese, grated

 

Preparation method

Prep:30  mins | Cook:1 hour

1.

Preheat oven for 180 C / Gas mark 4.

2.

Place half of the potatoes in a large baking dish. Sprinkle the chopped shallots over the top, along with knobs of butter. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add the curly kale, leek, green beans and cauliflower.

3.

To make the cheese sauce, heat the butter over medium heat in a frying pan. Add the flour and stir with the butter to combine well. Slowly add the milk to the pan, stirring constantly to ensure a smooth mixture. Reduce heat to low and add half of the cheese. Stir until cheese has melted, remove from heat and pour 3/4 of the mixture over the vegetables.

4.

Layer the remaining potatoes on top of the cheese sauce and vegetables. Cover with the remaining sauce. Sprinkle remaining cheese over top. Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour, or until vegetables are tender and cheese is crisp.

I halved the quantities because there were only 2 of us, but used the same amount of sauce and it was enough but not too much, so you may need to increase the amount of cheese sauce for 4 people.

I didn't have the green beans so I substituted with broccoli.  Also I parboiled the potatoes for a few minutes, just enough to be able to slice them, because they can take some time to cook.  I think you could adapt this recipe to use  any other vegetables.