All about leeks

Late Summer and early Autumn - a time of abundance. I just have worked up my beetroot (chutneys, pickled and the most amazing beetroot risotto) - now I am facing hundreds of leeks standing tall. Good thing so that I love leeks. Last year I made already a few different dishes with it - but mostly I love slicing them and sauteing it in butter with a bit of garlic and toss it through steaming pasta. But of course there are so many different options.

Pies are a great way of using up vegetables and it is a great lunch-treat. I panfried the leeks in olive oil and butter with some garlic. I added mixed herbs towards the end of the cooking.In a separate pan, I fried chopped mushrooms until they were coloured and added them to the leeks. Blindbaked short-crust pastry and filled the case with the leeks mixture and topped it with young goats' cheese. No egg and no cream - the leeks were moist enough and the cheese was melting nicely into the leeks. The result was a lovely tart and it didn't make it to lunch the next day as Terence demolished it the same night.

Another lovely idea of course is risotto. I have tried all kind of mixtures for risotto and have to admit that leeks (next to beetroot) is one of my favourite. I cook the risotto as normal and only add the panfried leeks towards the end as I want it to keep the fresh green colour. Lemon zest towards the end brings the risotto to new heights. May I say - yummy is not the correct word to describe this very simple but very satisfying dish.

What this space for more recipes coming up. And let me know if you have some more ideas on what to do with leeks - always looking for new ideas :-)