Aspies For Freedom

Today I am very pleased to have had some leeks delivered in our shopping.
They are so lovely to cook with.

They are a symbol of wales too.

They have a delicate oniony flavour, and when gently fried kind of melt down and are delicious.
They can go in most dishes in replace of onion for a more subtle flavour.

potato and leek soup.

Potato and leek soup is one of my favourite too.

I once made leeks in a cheese sauce finished off to a golden brown under the grill, which was very tasty.

You might like to try this: (serves two)
1 pint semi skimmed milk
1 Medium sized leek,
I Medium sized onion
1 Large potato
1/2 teaspoon sage
small carton of single cream
1 teaspoon of butter
1 good quality vegetable stock cube
Chop vegetables and cube potato.  Melt butter in a heavy based saucepan and add leeks and onions, fry gently until the onions are clear.  Add milk and potatoes.  When the milk is warm add stock cube and sage. Simmer for approximately 30 minutes.  Add cream and keep stirring for 1 minute, serve immediately.  
I like my soups chunky but if you want to liquidise this do so before adding the cream.
Good Luck

leek risotto

* chop about three or four leeks

* coat base of pan lightly with olive oil and gently brown and soften leeks

* now you need to prepare a jug of boiling water (get amount required from instructions on side of rice packet).  add a couple of stock cubes, either vegetable or chicken and give a good stir to dissolve them in the water.

* add arborio rice to the pan (i.e. risotto rice, not the long grain stuff) check the appropriate quantity from the instructions on the side of the packet

* stir for a few seconds so that the rice absorbs some of the oil and leek flavouring

* now add a bit of the jug of stock that you made up before ('here's one I made earlier! ), stirring continuously, so that the rice absorbs this stock - remember, you're only adding maybe a sixth or fifth of the liquid at this stage - when the rice has absorbed that first bit of stock, add a bit more, stir again, till it's almost all absorbed.  then add the rest of the stock, cover the pan and leave to boil (following the cooking time on the rice packet).  

* maybe five minutes before it's finished, add some fresh herbs, best is some roughly chopped thyme,

* be careful not to leave it too long, or the rice will start to burn the bottom of the pan, but you want to cook off all the liquid, so the risotto is fluffy (i.e. no liquid, you don't want a squelchy porridge).

*then serve it up and top it with some freshly shaved or grated parmesan cheese.

Bon appetit!

(You can also make this with chicken instead of leek.  It's really good to use up left over chicken, say you have a Sunday roast, then on Monday you make a second meal out of the left overs, by picking the chicken meat off the carcass and making a risotto with it.  Really good money saving tip!  And if you were really frugal you could then boil the chicken bones to make chicken stock for a chicken and vegetable soup, so you get two main meals and soup for lunch!)

And don't forget to use the leftover risotto (of any flavour) to make risotto cakes the next day.

Refrigerate any leftover risotto. It hardens when it's cold...first mix in a bit of extra parmesan and/or some leftover chopped meat if you like...then scoop out about 3 tablespoons for each cake, form into a patty and dredge lightly in flour. Fry the cakes in a pan with a little olive oil, butter or a combination of the two until both sides are crispy.

I've also had good results by adding an egg or two to the leftover risotto, mixing it well then dumping the whole mess into the preheated frying pan with the small amount of oil/butter. Smooth the top with a spatula and gently pat the sides into neat edges. Cook a bit more slowly than the individual cakes, as you want the egg to be completely cooked.

Score into quarters when the underside is finished and flip to cook both sides evenly. It's a bit tricky to flip, but using a wide thin bladed spatula is helpful.

If you add leftover meat to this and serve it with salad it makes a nice dinner.