WELCOME LEEKS!

Our first spring vegetable at the market. So happy to see you, leeks!

After the months of limited winter vegetables, we finally have a new one. The versatile and friendly leek!

This week I made several leek centered dishes and sharing them here. 

(The wonderful watercolor welcoming leeks to our home was created by Miriam!)

POTATOES LOVE LEEKS

Ingredients:

5 medium white potatoes, 3/4 in slices
(Hands on the Earth Farm handsontheearth.com)

3 leeks, washed and 1/8 in slices -- greens and white
(Rineer Family Farms @RineerFamilyFarms)

1/2 cup Cheese from Birchrun -- will update when I get the name, a new one
(Birchrun Hills @birchrunhills)

1/3 cup Sharp 2 Chevre 
(Shellbark Hollow Farm  shellbarkhollow.com)

3 T Cultured Butter from Birchrun Hills

2 T flour

2/3 cup milk

Process:

1. Slice the potatoes and parboil for 3-4 minutes.
2. Prepare the leeks and saute in 1 T butter until very soft and reduced (5-8 min)
3. In a separate pan make a bechamel with 2T butter, flour, and milk
4. Add in the cheeses
5. Add the cooked leeks to the bechamel and combine well.
6. In a rectangular cooking dish (I used glass.) Layer the potatoes, putting about 1T of the mixture on each one. If any left spread over. 
7. Bake in a 350 oven for 40 min or more, until the potatoes are really soft. (I had to try twice to get this right.) 

LOFTY LEEK SOUFFLE

based off a recipe @ SeriousEats.com

Ingredients:

75 g Seven Sisters Cheese, grated
(Farm at Doe Run facebook.com/TheFarmAtDoeRun)

100 g Cooked Leeks -- about 2 leeks, 1/8 in sliced, all parts 

(Rineer Family Farms @RineerFamilyFarms)

3T Goat Tomme Cheese, finely grated

(Shellbark Hollow Farm  shellbarkhollow.com)

6T Butter 

(Birchrun Hills @birchrunhills)

3.5 T Flour

1 cup milk

5 eggs from Rineeer

Process:

1. Pre-heat oven to 400
2. Rub 2T butter around the inside the suuffle pan
3. Sprinkle the grated tomme to evenly coat, then put in refrigerator
4. Cook the leeks in 1T butter until very soft
5. Make a bechamel 
6. Separate eggs. Keep all whites and 4 yolks.
7. After bechamel is cooled a bit, whisk in each yolk, one at a time
8. Whisk the whites to glossy peaks
9. Pour bechamel into large mixing bowl, then fold in 1/3 of  whites and combine
10. Mix in cheese and leeks
11. Fold in remainder of the whites, then transfer into souffle pan
12. Bake for 30 min

Voila.