The Leek Adventure

Potato & Leek Casserole

(published elsewhere June 5, 2004)

I guess I’m answering myself…which is understandable, since i think the only 2 people who know about this recipe board are me and my MOM…and anyway, if i wait any longer, my leeks and potatoes will turn to soup in the bottom of the vegetable drawer…

Of course, i have ideas on how to change this recipe (i can never cook a recipe just as is) I think i will add some chicken (grilled and shredded) and possibly some parmesan cheese. I’ll have to figure out how to do it in the microwave, too–

3 c. Leeks, well-scrubbed, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 c. Carrots, shredded
2 T. Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1 t. Rosemary, powdered, dry
1 c. Vegetable broth
2 lbs. Potatoes, red, unpeeled, sliced in thin rounds
1/4 cup Parsley or chives (or mixed) finely chopped

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. In deep skillet, coat leeks and carrots with olive oil. Cover and simmer over low heat until soft. Add seasonings. Mix well.

3. Layer a well-oiled 2 1/2-to 3-quart casserole (with cover) with 1/3 of the potatoes, then 1/2 the seasoned vegetables. repeat and finish with last 1/3 of potatoes. Pour broth evenly into casserole.

4. Cover and bake for 50 minutes covered at 375 degrees. Uncover and bake for another 20 minutes. Garnish with parsley and chives.

Variation: Substitute carrots with zucchini if desired. Half of leek can be finely chopped yellow onions.

(Source: Vegetarian Journal, Sept-Oct 93/MM by DEEANNE)

Not very successful, I’m afraid….

Well, i actually did it exactly the way the recipe said. (though i added some bacon and mushrooms) Which makes me wonder now that it’s all over–what was i thinking when i picked this recipe? It’s not a casserole, because it has no sauce!

Other than that, everything else that could go wrong did go wrong.

-i didn’t have a casserole dish, so i used a big bowl, which was awkward, and it didn’t cook well, because it was supposed to be covered…i’m going out to buy a casserole dish with a lid this very afternoon.

-the leeks were reedy. Now i know why it only calls for the light part of the leeks in most recipes.

-i let the darn thing sit in the microwave for a few hours before i cooked it (i was doing the green onion cakes) and some of the potatoes turned a little grey. I cooked it anyway, after taking off the worst of them…but between the reedy leeks and the discoloured potatoes, i had a queasy stomach for a couple of days.

-the darn thing wasn’t cooking well, so i gave up on the casserole idea and tried to make the potato and leek frittata…. so i dumped everything into a frypan, covered it with beaten eggs, and waited for it to cook through. But it was taking forever to cook on top (i also don’t have a cover for my frypan) so i stirred it. Once you stir a frittata, it is no longer a frittata. It’s scrambled eggs with stuff in it. Actually, not even. Scrambled eggs are big chunks of eggs. What i had was vegetables with runny egg curd.

But it had bacon in it, so i thought that would give it a good flavour. And it did taste okay, except the egg, potato, and leek part (of an egg, potato and leek casserole) Boy, when i do %$*#!@ up, i do it 100%, eh?

New ripples, purple rice

Here are the colours for the two new ripples that i’ve just started…

Bright, eh? 🙂 One will have a base of turquoise, and the other will have a base of red (like my first one had a base of green), to use up those huge balls of yarn that i have. So, with the stripey baby blanket, that adds up to three projects concurrently!

Also, it was a holiday today, so i spent a bit of time in the kitchen…

This certainly was an unusual dish. It looks like bloody murder, but it tastes pretty good 🙂 It’s actually an Arroz con Pollo recipe from Extending the Table that i modified a bit, the biggest change being that i substituted a third of the rice with black rice (well, purple, it turns out–leftover from Mom and Jaret’s visit), resulting in the mind-boggling colour you see below…

Purple Chicken with Rice

1 chicken, cut into pieces and skinned (next time i’m just going to use boneless chicken breasts/thighs. I hate chicken bones. Icky.)
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 yellow pepper, chopped
1 c. or more diced carrots
1 c. or more diced celery
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/3 c. white rice, uncooked
2/3 c. black rice, uncooked
1/4 c. tomato paste
1/2 t. chili powder
1/4 t. cloves
1/4 t. oregano
2 1/2 c. chicken broth
1 c. frozen peas

Season chicken with lemon juice, pepper and salt. Heat a few tablespoons of oil in a large pot and brown chicken. Remove chicken and set aside. Then, to pot, add onion, peppers, carrots, celery and garlic and cook until onion is transparent. Add rice and saute one minute. Add tomato paste, chili, cloves, oregano and more pepper and stir. Add the chicken. Add the chicken broth, and salt to taste, and stir, then bring to a boil, reduce heat, and cover. Cook for 20-25 minutes on low until rice is done. Uncover and stir to loosen rice. Stir in frozen peas and let mixture cook for a couple minutes more to heat peas through. Serve, and watch out for the chicken bones when eating!

Here’s another picture of the washed rice, just because it’s beautiful:

Then, as a snack/dessert, i made these cereal bars to use up half a package of fruit and nut flakes that has been sitting around for quite a while. They’re quite yummy 🙂

Cereal Bars

4 c. fruit and nut flakes cereal
1/3 c. toasted coconut
2/3 c. All-Bran cereal, crushed
1/2 to 1/3 c. chocolate coated sunflower and pumpkin seeds
1/2 c. corn syrup
1/2 c. brown sugar, packed
1/4 c. butter
1 t. vanilla
1/4 t. salt

In large pot, melt butter and add brown sugar and corn syrup. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, and boil for one minute. Remove from heat and add vanilla and salt. Add cereals and coconut and stir to coat evenly. Let cool until only slightly warm, but still pliable. Stir in chocolate covered seeds quickly so they don’t melt. Press mixture into a greased square baking pan and let cool completely. Cut into 24 bars or 36 squares.

colourlove june 6

see my page on colourlovers.com

Cute and funny commercials

Sexy lady/tuna commercial:

Make a wish!

Sad lizard drama:

Other funny ones:

Too much wind?

Oh, Mama!

Blindingly white laundry

Xbox shootout!!

The human touch

I have a PC and i love my computer, but i think these Mac ads are so much fun! Mac is cool, but PC is a adorable, and i like that the whole ad series is in a spirit of friendly competition. Watch them all!

Six beautiful loaves of coconut bread

Behold!

I haven’t made this recipe in years, and i’ve never made it in loaves before, only buns, but they turned out well! Probably the best bread i’ve made yet (I let it rise a long time). And, furthermore, i didn’t burn them! (Jae, you hear that?)

The recipe comes from my favourite cookbook, Extending the Table, which is the book i bought when i first moved out on my own and used to teach myself how to cook.

Coconut Bread (Belize)

1 can coconut milk, plus water to make 2 1/2 c.
1/4 c. oil
1/2 c. sugar
1 t. salt
1 T. yeast
7 c. flour (more or less)

Warm coconut milk in microwave. In a large bowl, mix coconut milk, oil, sugar and salt and mix well until sugar dissolves. Sprinkle yeast onto liquid bit by bit while stirring. Mix and let stand 5 minutes. Stir in 6 cups of the flour, until the dough starts to form a ball, then turn it out onto a board with one more cup of flour and knead for 8 minutes. Add more flour as you go, if you need to. Place dough in large, oiled bowl, turn over, cover, and let rise 40 minutes. Punch down, divide into 6 small oblong shapes or 24 balls. Place in baking dish and let rise at least one hour more. Heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius and bake for about 20-25 minutes, until golden brown on top.

baby blanket–in progress

began on thursday afternoon

square #1 finished, friday evening
modeled so beautifully by my new student, Eun

square #2 in progress, saturday evening

and, i forgot to add this to the pile of books i bought last week, but, a little reading–non-fiction–to go along with my knitting (if only i had three hands so that i could read and knit at the same time…)

a little bit of Vivaldi's summer love…

Guitar/violin duet

Anne-Sophie Mutter

Nigel Kennedy

Potato & Leek Frittata

Potato & Leek Frittata

(published elsewhere June 5, 2004)

Another leek recipe–this sounds good!

My variations: I’ll just use the whole leek. there’s no point throwing out the green part. I guess i’d need to add another egg then…for the vegetables, i would definitely use mushrooms, maybe some carrots, zucchini or peppers, depending on what’s in the fridge. but fresh mushrooms would absolutely be in there. Get rid of the cilantro…can’t stand the stuff–it’d have to be parsley if i can get my hands on the stuff fresh–ooh! maybe some chopped up sesame leaves would be good! There’s no such thing as table cream, so i’ll have to use whole milk (in fact, there’s no such thing as 2%, 1% or skim around here, so it’s basically my only choice..okay, there’s “low fat” sometimes, but it’s rare, and i don’t know what the percentage is…) And i don’t think i would serve this with salsa. But i would definitely serve it with sausage, bacon, or ham. Or how about throwing some cooked, chopped bacon in with the vegetables? Will I ever learn to leave good enough alone when it comes to recipes? Most likely not…

3 T. Butter
2 T. Oil
1 c. Cooked potatoes (1/2″ cubes)
2 Leeks, white part, sliced
1 small Onion, chopped
1/2 c. Leftover cooked bite-sized vegetables
2 cloves Garlic, minced
1/4 c. Parmesan cheese, grated
1 T Cilantro sprigs
5 Eggs
1/2 cup Table cream
Salt
Black pepper
Pinch cayenne pepper
Salsa, optional

1. In a medium skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of the butter and the oil. Add the leeks, onion and grlic and saute until soft. Add the potatoes and leftover vegetables and cook until potatoes are lightly browned. Remove from skillet and place potato mixture into a medium bowl.

2. Add cheese and cilantro to bowl, toss and set aside.

3. In another small bowl, combine eggs, cream, salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper and whisk until blended. Pour over potato/leek mixture.

4. In the empty skillet, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter. Pour in the potato/egg mixture and cook slowly over low heat, piercing the top with a fork and gently lifting the bottom. Continue cooking until the bottom is brown and set. Slide omelet onto a dinner plate, invert the plate with the omelet back into the skillet and cook the remaining omelet side until brown. Serve with salsa.