Cooking With Leeks

A note on cooking with leeks, inspired by a NYT Well post with a list of related Recipes for Health:

I use leeks all the time, as my neighbors are probably too aware. I use leeks sautéed in olive oil as filler, mixed with an egg and flour for a tart, or to season simple pasta, or to flavor and decorate roasted potatoes.

How I prepare leeks is this:

First I cut off the base and ragged tips of 3-4 stems, slice the mainly dark-green stems lengthwise, and then cut the stalks into 1 – 3 inch sections, depending on what they’ll be used for. Because there’s often dirt from the ground deep in the lower, paler sections of the leeks, I manually expose and separate each rounded layer, and then wash everything  under briskly-running water, thoroughly rinsing at least three times.

You don’t have to dry the cut, washed leeks. What I do is heat a heavy, wide pan on the stove, add a thin layer of olive oil, and then throw on the damp (or dry) leek pieces. With the flame set low, I toss on about a half teaspoon of salt for a volume of 3-4 large stalks. Sometimes I add fresh ginger, cut into tiny pieces, into the mix.

And then I work on other things in the kitchen – often while listening to NPR or talking to my mom on the phone – while the leeks wilt. If I’m running late, I’ll put a lid on the pan, which makes the leeks soften faster, but that’s not ideal. Every few minutes I stir them around a bit with a wooden spoon or spatula, until they’re soft and, typically, shiny with varied shades of green.

You can store cooked leeks in the refrigerator for a few days, if they’re in a sealed container. So you might, as I have, use a small amount with pasta on a Monday, and then use the remainder for a goat cheese and leek tart later in the week. There are many variations, and I’ve only started using this vegetable in the past four years or so.

This summer I intend to try making a potato-leek soup.

According to Martha Rose Shulman, writing for the Times, leeks are milder than onions but contain sulfur compounds present in onions and green garlic that some people find hard to digest. Leeks are a good source of nutrients like lutein and zeaxanthin, carotenoids – thought to be important in vision, calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium and vitamin K. Leeks are fiber-rich, I might add.

I should learn more about each of these elements; how they’re best cooked and absorbed. Unfortunately I’m still searching for the nutrition textbook they never assigned in med school.

—

Related Posts:

• Contemplating Diet and Nutrition: A First Look at the USDA’s New Guidelines
• A Nutritional Tidbit, on Quinoa
• A Vitamin Chart From the National Women’s Health Information Center
• A Poster for Healthy Eating, 1940s Style
• New York City Mayor Bloomberg Promotes Healthy Lifestyle Choices