Potato-Leek Latkes

This is a GREAT recipe from a blog called Marcia's Kitchen. Willie and I had these for breakfast. They're great with a dollop of sour cream or with apple sauce.

Ingredients:

3 large russet potatoes, scrubbed, peeled, and shredded

2 leeks, white and light green parts only, trimmed, cleaned, and sliced very thin

1 egg

1 tbsp Kosher salt

fresh ground black pepper

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tbsp butter

Directions:

Squeeze all the water out of the shredded potatoes before combining them in a large bowl with everything but the butter and oil. Heat a griddle and add enough butter and oil to coat the pan to a medium high heat. Working in batches, place small portions, about 2 tbsps of the potato mix onto the hot griddle. Flatten the pancake with the back of a spatula. Repeat. Add more butter/oil as needed. Cook for a couple of minutes then lower the heat and cook another minute or so before flipping. Increase the heat and cook for a few more minutes until golden brown. To serve, add a little finishing salt and a grinding of pepper-- then place a dollop of sour cream on top of each pancake....

Braised Leeks

Braised Leeks

This recipe is adapted from "Sweet Braised Whole Scallions," from the braising Bible, Molly Stevens' All About Braising, p. 92. I used a scallion recipe because the leeks are scallion size.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 pound scallions (about 5 bunches or 3 dozen)

1/2 cup water

1 1/2 tsps coarsely chopped fresh tarragon (do not substitute dried) or 1 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley

coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/2 lemon

Directions:

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Using about 1 1/2 teaspons of butter, generously butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.

2. Trimming the scallions: Trim the root ends and 1 1/2 inches off the green tops of the scallions. Arrange half of the scallions in the baking dish so the bulb ends are lined up at one end and the greens are toward the middle. Place the other half of the scallions in the opposite direction, so you end up with a double layer of scallion greens across the centr of the dish and a single layer of bulbs at each end of the dish. (NOTE: Since we are using leeks, we cannot keep much of the leathery green stems. There were not enough leeks to arrange in this pattern, so I just laid them in a single layer on the bottom of the pan).

3. The Braise: Pour the water into the dish. Cut the remaining butter into slivers and dot it over the top of the scallions. Season with the tarragon or parsley, salt, and pepper. Cover the dish tightly with foil, and slide onto the middle rack in the oven. Braise undisturbed until fragrant and tender, 35 to 40 minutes. (NOTE: Since we don't have three dozen leeks, I reduced the cooking time to 15 minutes-- just guessing).

4. The finish: Remove the foil from the dish, and increase the oven heat to 450 degrees. Roast the scallions for 10 minutes, then shake the pan back and forth to coat the scallions with the glaze that will have formed. Continue roasting until the liquid evaporates and the edges of the scallions are beginning to brown, another 5 minutes or so. Squeeze over a few drops of lemon juice to taste, and serve hot or warm. (NOTE: I finished the leeks off uncovered for 5 minutes only. The glaze at the bottom of the pan is rich and flavorful!).

Roasted Leeks and Eggplant with Polenta

Roasted Leeks and Eggplant with Polenta

For the roasted leeks and eggplant: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Trim leeks: cut off roots, cut off most of green part, split the larger ones down the middle. Slice eggplant into quarter-inch discs. There's no need to salt/soak these eggplants. Spread vegetables in single layer on baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper. Roast in oven for 15 minutes.

For the polenta: I followed the recipe on the back of a bag of Goya Corn Meal. It instructed me to boil 6 cups of water seasoned with one and a half teaspoons of salt. Once the water begins to boil, add in one and a half cups of the corn meal slowly, whisking continuously so that the polenta doesn't clump. After all of the corn meal is in the boiling water, reduce heat to medium and stir continuously for half an hour with a wooden spoon (or else the polenta will stick to the bottom of the pan and/or clump up). Towards the end of the half an hour, mix in one and a half tablespoons of butter. This actually kept the polenta from sticking to the pan. When I removed the polenta from the heat, I spooned myself a heaping helping of it then poured the rest into a glass baking dish greased with olive oil. It cooled rapidly into the dish but didn't stick to the sides. I think I'll cut the polenta up into squares and saute the squares in butter or grill them and serve them as a side dish for another day.

Chard, Leek, and Thyme Quiche

Recipe from the blog, Being Cheap Never Tasted so Good

Ingredients:
pie crust
3-4 leeks, chopped
1/2 bunch Swiss chard, chopped
1-2 TBSP butter
thyme
1 c. milk
3 eggs
4 0z. herbed goat cheese
salt
pepper
nutmeg

Step 1.
Heat the butter in a skillet and sauté for about five minutes until they begin to get tender.
Season generously with thyme. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Add the chard and sauté for a couple minutes more.
Remove from heat and set aside in mixing bowl.

Step 2.
Wisk together milk, eggs, goat cheese, a few pinches nutmeg, and a dash of salt and pepper.
Stir in liquid mixture with vegetables.

Step 3.
Pour into pie crust.

Bake tart for 15 minutes at 425°F. Then lower heat to 350°F and bake for another 15 or 20 minutes until liquid is just set in the center. Allow to cool for 10 minutes or so before serving.

Adrienne's Notes: Next time I make this, I won't use goat cheese. I'll use something like Asiago or parmesan. The goat cheese was hard to crumbled into the egg mixture. It also added a mushiness to the quiche, which is already mushy in texture because of the eggs.