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Feature Articles  

What  are Leeks?

Meet a Not-Too-Famous Onion

Discovering What We Don’t Know About Leeks

Alien Encounters:

Drumming Up Inspiration for Strange-Sounding Vegetables

A Week of Leeks:

Get to know Leeks, 7 Easy Ways

In Every Issue

Why We Love It

Partners in Flavor and Season

Leek Season

Vegetable Boosters

Picky Eater Tips

Money Saving Tricks

News from the Farm

Cooking School

Cooking Classes:

White Fish and Leeks en Papillote    

Roasted Leeks and Butternut Squash Salad

Buying the Best

Storing for Flavor

Prepping Tricks & Tips

Cooking Basics

Recipes, Recipes, Recipes

13 Easy Recipes: Make

Leeks a Mid-Winter Favorite

Onions are such a ubiquitous and familiar vegetable.  That's why it's hard to understand why its close cousin, the leek, is hardly known at all.  

Actually, in Europe, leeks are quite well-known, especially in France.  Writing from Paris, Chef David Lebovitz (of Chez Panisse fame) informs us that

here in France, leeks are cheap and plentiful. And used often. . . . [E]ven the most lowly produce vendor sells leeks and just about everyone at my market seems to have a few sticking out of their market basket.

Lebovitz's comments generated quite a stir among his American readers, as many proclaimed their love and frequent use of leeks.  While there is no doubt that leeks are becoming more well-known, they are far from being the universal aromatic that onions are.  And even if they are familiar by sight, many of us lack the comfort and confidence to use them beyond a narrow range of recipes. In fact, our familiarity with leeks often begins and ends with Potato Leek Soup.  

So let's get to know this cousin from across the pond a bit better.  

Aromatics

Shallots

© 2009 Culinary Concepts, Inc., Boulder CO

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Have you ever noticed how almost every recipe starts with a chopped onion?  And maybe some garlic, too?  Maybe even some celery and carrots.  These are all aromatics.  

While they may be the first ingredients in a recipe, they usually aren't the stars.  Those roles go to the meat, fish or grain in a dish, or to other big-name vegetables like eggplant, spinach, green beans or cabbage.  The aromatics just plug along in the chorus, providing the background flavor that makes everything else  taste amazing.  

This is where leeks and onions find common ground--serving in the unheralded but vital role of aromatics.  We just rarely see leeks as a beginning aromatic in American cooking since they are not so common here.  That may be changing as leeks become more available and we begin to see how valuable an aromatic option they can be.

Meet the In-Laws

Close cousins?  Really?  

More Lily Family Relatives

It’s hard to believe onions and leeks come from the same family: one is short and squat, the other tall and willowy.  One we throw in a dark cupboard with the potatoes; the other goes in the fresh vegetable drawer with the kale and collards.  Thick skinned onions can withstand high cooking temperatures while thin-skinned leeks must be treated far more delicately at the cookstove.   

Despite their differences, however, these cousins share one very important trait in addition to their botanical connection:  They are both aromatics.   

The Lily Family

Garlic

Chives

Green Onions

Go figure.  

Daylily

Practically every recipe rests on a foundation of sauteed aromatics, like the well-known combination of onion, carrots and celery, known as mirepoix in French cooking.   Other aromatics, besides those listed in the text, include parsnips, diced ham, tomatoes, shallots, mushrooms, peppers, chilies and ginger.

A Green Onion This is Not

While a leek bears little resemblance to its regular onion cousin, it looks quite a bit like its green onion relation.  In fact, people often think the two are the same.  A side-by-side inspection reveals how different they actually are:  

• Leeks are much larger than green onions, with the exception of baby leeks which are about the same size.  
• Leek leaves are flat and solid, where green onions are round and hollow.
• Green onions are a true bright green while leeks are a darker, blue-green color.

Cooking leeks is also quite different than green onion cooking.  As explained in the Cooking Basics section, leek cooking is all about low, slow and moist.  Green onions, on the other hand, are generally cooked very quickly (or used raw) to preserve the zippy bite they add to foods.  It is much rarer to see leeks used raw or only lightly cooked since their flavor is fairly harsh without adequate cooking.     

What Are Leeks Like?

The answer to this question depends on whether leeks are being used as a background aromatic or the star of a dish.  When used as aromatic, they do their job well, contributing a subtle onion flavor and then melting nicely into the background flavors of a dish.  You may not even notice them.  But sometimes leeks get a much-deserved starring role, in which case they have a nicely distinguishable taste.  While getting a feel for this taste is best gained by experience, here is some starting information:

Taste–Milder and Sweeter than Onions  While raw leeks are sharp-tasting like onions, leeks that are properly cooked become mild, sweet and tender–even more so than cooked onions.  I also think leeks have more of a “fresh-herb” taste, with hints of tarragon and chives.      

7 Days, 7 Ways to Taste-Test Leeks  A great way to get a feel for the taste of leeks is by experimenting with the simple side dishes in “A Week of Leeks.”  There leeks are used as the star ingredient in everything from Asian to Indian to classic French side dishes.  

Uses–Moving Beyond Savory French Dishes  A quick on-line search and cookbook review reveals that leeks are fairly confined to savory, French-type cooking (not surprisingly, since they are so common there.)  They show up in savory soups, pastas and casseroles with foods like mushrooms, fish, chicken, tomatoes, cheese and of course potatoes.  However, there are signs of leeks' acceptance beyond its European roots, in recipes from Indian and Asian to Thai and Mediterranean.  Included in this month’s Recipes are several non-traditional options which, along with “A Week of Leeks” may inspire you to experiment a bit on your own.

Taste-Test leeks for yourself, with 7 easy, tasty recipes, like this Asian Style Warm Leek Salad.  

Be sure to check out all of this month’s Recipes for Leeks

Interestingly, leeks actually have two usable parts.  The white bottoms are the most commonly used part, but the green tops, have just as many uses.  

2 Vegetables in 1

The most surprising discovery of this month’s vegetable adventures is that leeks are actually two vegetables in one.  There are the tender, sweet white bottoms (along with the light green parts) that most recipes call for.  However, there are also the often overlooked greens, which are just as tasty and interesting.  In fact, the greens are even better suited for some recipes, particularly where the leeks will be subjected to higher heats and longer cooking times, as in casseroles, soups, stir-fries and long-cooking sauces.  Because so little has been written on the subject, we devoted an entire section to using the greens.

So in case you’ve never tried leeks or you’ve tried them unsuccessfully, may the information in the following pages provide what’s needed to become familiar and comfortable with this vegetable.  It’s a special one that you don’t want to miss out on!