Monday, March 20, 2006

Leeks with Bread Crumbs and Parmesan

I burnt the bottom of the leeks when I made this today. It was no problem, though: the burnt part peeled right off. Vegetables that have layers are cool.

  • leeks
  • bread crumbs
  • parmesan or similar cheese
  • salt and pepper
  • olive oil

Boil the leeks for about five minutes, or until they seem almost ready to eat. Put them in a dish, and add pepper (and possibly salt, depending on how salty the cheese is), bread crumbs, and cheese. Bake at about 400 degrees for about 10 minutes.

I made bread crumbs by toasting bread and then crumbling it. This worked, but it would have worked better if I had sliced the bread thinner when I toasted it. Use about two small slices of bread per person to get the right amount of bread crumbs.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

How did you prepare the leeks before boiling them?

Toby said...

I bought the leeks in a supermarket rather than in a real market, and they came shrink-wrapped and already cut into two large pieces. No matter how I bought them, though, I think I could have just trimmed them and tossed them into the water, though.

Anonymous said...

Toby, sometimes leeks are really dirty quite far down the stalk and many layers in. I've found this to be true often (not always) both with leeks David grows in the garden and with those I buy in the supermarket. The dirt is sandy and crunches nastily between your teeth. The recommended way to prepare them to avoid this problem is -- after trimming off most of the green (which is to be discarded anyway) cut vertically from the top almost down the the root, and then rinse the leek under running water while separating the layers. It works, but you have to be careful not to pull the whole thing apart. Ellen

Anonymous said...

I wasn't even thinking about the dirt when I asked the Q, just wondered how you cut them. Sounds like in Budapest leeks are such an ordinary ingredient that they get pre-washed by the seller. Amazing.