Guest Blogger Jeff Gordinier

    author Jeff Gordinier

     

    Listen, I get it. You’re stuck in the house. You’ve been cooking meals at home for months and months, by now, and your early surge of kitchen enthusiasm has begun to fade into numbness. You want to feed your crew healthful dishes, and you want to incorporate different flavors, but you’re drawing a quarantine blank — you can’t think of anything new to cook. The good news is that cookbooks are your friend.

    Flipping through a cookbook can help refresh the synapses and remind you of tastes and techniques you’ve been wanting to play around with. And we happen to be living through a golden age of cookbooks, especially volumes that overflow with innovative approaches to plant-based cuisine.

    You know that feeling when you’re standing in the produce aisle at the market, staring at the usual suspects and wondering how to hit the reset button? Well, give a great chef a vegetable and that chef can imagine something interesting and delicious to do with it.

    So, let’s ask the chefs.  Each week we’ll feature a delicious vegetable that you can always find at the market – along with a recipe from an acclaimed contemporary cookbook.

    The ideas are out there. It’s just a matter of giving them a try… this week, we’re featuring  a recipe for Soft Leeks

     

    *Jeff has been a journalist for 30 years and is the author, most recently, of Hungry: Eating, Road-Tripping, and Risking It All with the Greatest Chef in the World. He has contributed to publications like The New York Times, Esquire, Travel + Leisure, Departures, Details, Elle, Entertainment Weekly, and Outside, and he has appeared on television shows like Chef’s Table and Somebody Feed Phil. Gordinier lives in Westchester County with his wife, Lauren Fonda, and his four children, Margot, Tobias, Jasper, and Wesley.

     

    Soft Leeks

    from How to Dress an Egg: by Ned Baldwin and Peter Kaminsky

    Serves: 4

    a cookbook titled how to dress an egg by co-authors Ned Baldwin and Peter Kaminsky

     

    Cooking in a sealed heavy, lidded pot is a simple and foolproof method I use time and again. This basic technique will make your kitchen life much easier. The beauty of the cooking method is that it yields leeks that are soft-to-the-tooth with great depth of flavor and no burnt edges (which often happens with roasted or sautéed leeks). They are smooth, sweet, and creamy. And I have yet to find a simple poached or grilled fish fillet or piece of chicken that doesn’t work terrifically with them.

     

    Ingredients:

    • 4 medium leeks
    • 2 tablespoons olive oil
    • ½ to 1 teaspoon kosher salt (to taste)

     

    Directions:

    1. Preheat the over to 250⁰ F.
    2. Cut off the tough green tops and the roots of the leeks. Slice the leeks lengthwise in half and rinse like a pack of cards, but keeping each half intact. Shake off excess water over the sink.
    3. Toss the leeks with the oil and salt, then lay them out in a single layer in a Dutch over or other heavy pot with a lid. Cover the pot with foil and place the lid on top. Transfer to the oven and cook for 30 minutes. Check the leeks to see how they are progressing by poking them with a metal skewer. If they are super tender, they’re done. If not, continue to check the leeks every 10 minutes or so until they are; this may take as long as 60 minutes in all.
    4. Serve the leeks immediately, or transfer to a container, cover, and refrigerate. They will keep for several days. Rewarm before serving.