Leek & Spinach Pesto Sauce

When I'm not cooking, cleaning or playing with my kids during the day, I'm searching the internet for tasty and interesting recipes to fix or new cooking techniques to try my hand at.  I recently found a very nice food forum and have enjoyed, for the most part, all the regular people who participate in the cooking community there.  A lot of the people who contribute have very diverse backgrounds and quite a lot more experience than I could ever claim to have.  I now consider them to be a very valuable resource and have learned quite a lot from them all.  I am amazed at how gracious a lot of them are...always willing to suggest a recipe or answer my questions.  After I made my Pureed Broccoli-Leek Soup, I was staring at all the green tops and wondering what in the heck I was going to do with all those tough leaves.  Were they even useable?  The recipe called for only the white bottoms....maybe the tops weren't edible?  Although, in thinking about how much they resemble a scallion, I found this very hard to accept!  If anything, I supposed they could be composted, but before I settled on this fate for the tough green parts, I figured I'd throw out the question to the food forum.

Are the green parts useable??  The resounding answer was YES!!  They are actually quite versatile and can be pretty much interchanged with scallions in most recipes.  They can be sauteed or used to make soups and stocks.  One lady, Chris, gave me the most interesting suggestion and was awesome enough to give me a recipe for a basic pesto sauce she had made that I could easily adapt to ingredients I already had at home.  She described this pesto as "tasting like Spring" and boy was she right!!  Everything was fresh, green, very light yet very filling at the same time and so flavorful.  It actually made quite a bit and I was able to turn the leftovers into a very tasty appetizer for a game night I hosted the following weekend.  It would have been equally good as leftover pasta...cold or warm!!  This recipe is definitely a keeper.  So many thanks again to Chris.  She has a very cool website, http://www.figsfoodie.com/, which I very much enjoy looking at from time to time.  Her blog is interesting reading and I love her pictures.

Leek & Spinach Pesto

1 leek, green parts only, cleaned well and chopped into 1/4" slices (If you want to know how to clean leeks, check out the Pureed Broccoli-Leek Soup.  I explain how to easily clean them in the first 3 pictures).

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 c frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed of excess moisture

2 tbsp parsley (I used one of my frozen parsley cubes )

2 tbsp. walnuts

3 cloves garlic, chopped

2 tbsp. shredded Parmesan cheese

1 tbsp. olive oil (plus more for thinning the mixture)

1/4 tsp, black pepper

1 tbsp. honey

1 1/2 tbsp. red wine vinegar

2 tbsp. dried basil 



In a saute pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat.  Add the chopped leeks and salt and cook approximately 15 mins until the leeks are tender.

Add the spinach and parsley and saute another 2 - 3 mins.  Transfer to a separate bowl to cool slightly.

In a second pan, lightly toast the walnuts.

Add the leek mixture, toasted walnuts and remaining ingredients to a mini food processor.

Process the mixture well, drizzling additional olive oil in until desired consistency is reached.  Pesto should still be thick, not runny like regular pasta sauce (Sorry...I apparently forgot to take a picture!).  Toss a heaping spoonful of pesto with cooked pasta and any other ingredients of your choice.  I tossed mine with diced tomatoes, black olives and peas.

Recipe for: Leek & Spinach Pesto Sauce

www.momsaysjustonebite.blogspot.com

To prepare: You will need a food processor (or blender) for this recipe.

Ingredients

Directions

1 leek, green tops only, cleaned well and chopped into ¼” slices. ½ tsp. salt ¼ c. frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed of excess moisture. 2 tbsp. parsley 2 tbsp. walnuts 2 tbsp. shredded Parmesan cheese 1 tbsp. olive oil (plus more for thinning the pesto sauce) ¼ tsp. black pepper 1 tbsp. honey 1 ½ tbsp. red wine vinegar 2 tbsp. dried basil

1.       Heat the olive oil in a sauté pan over medium heat.  Add the leeks and salt and cook for 15 mins. until the leeks are tender. 2.       Add the spinach and parsley and continue to sauté for another 2-3 mins.  Transfer to a separate bowl to cool slightly. 3.       In a separate pan, lightly toast the walnuts. 4.       Add the leek mixture, walnuts and remaining ingredients to a mini food processor. 5.       Process the mixture, drizzling in additional olive oil until desired consistency is reached. 6.       Toss a heaping spoonful of pesto sauce with cooked pasta and other vegetables or proteins of your choice until all is well coated.

Pureed Broccoli-Leek Soup

I have never in my life cooked with leeks before.  I've always glanced at them in the produce aisle and wondered what they tasted like, but had never actually encountered a recipe that called for using them.  They look like scallions on steroids, so I always just assumed they had an onion-like flavor.  Imagine my delight when Brenna selected the pureed broccoli-leek soup from The White Rachel Ray Binder as the next recipe to try. 

I will admit that leeks were kind of on the expensive side ($2.49 for the bunch of 3), but they were well worth it.  I loved the flavor!  They were much sweeter and milder than a regular yellow onion, but still had the taste of an onion.  Plus they don't make you cry when you chop them up.  Like the onion, they grow in soil, but unlike the onion which develops a bulb, the leek is made up entirely of bundled leaf sheaths.  The grit gets in between the individual sheaths so you have to make sure you clean your leeks very well.  Te recipe does not call for soil, sand, grit or any type of debris.

I chose to make the soup on a night my husband had a work event, so he didn't get the pleasure of sampling the leek, but knowing my husband, it's green and resembles and onion so he wouldn't have tried it anyway...and since I'm not his mom I can't make him try one bite.  Tyler wasn't a fan of the soup but finished his whole bowl.  Brenna and Aiden ate a few bites and didn't care for it very much, but they did get grilled cheese sandwiches to go with it so they were all still happy and fed.  I think it may have actually been the Gruyere cheese which turned them off more so than the leek because it has a much stronger flavor than the cheeses they are used to.  I think if I had substituted Cheddar the soup would have went over much better with the kids.  

Either way, this gentle giant of the onion family has indeed earned at least one new fan!

Pureed Broccoli-Leek Soup

*Serves 4

1 large head of broccoli, cut into small florets

4 tbsp. butter

4 leeks, white parts only, thinly sliced (I had HUGE leeks so I only used the 3 and could taste the flavor just fine)

Salt

1/2 c. chicken broth

1/2 c. heavy cream

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg (normally I hate nutmeg, but it actually worked in the soup so don't leave it out!!)

Pinch of cayenne pepper

4 oz. of grated Gruyere cheese (about 1 cup)

The Leek aka the gentle giant!

Cut off the root end and the green tops.  Halve the white part lengthwise and discard the outer layer.

Soak the stalks in cold water for 10 mins and then rinse under cold running water to remove the grit from between the layers.

The broccoli florets ready to be steamed.  Cook the broccoli until soft, drain and set aside.

Once the leeks are cleaned, cut them into thin slices.

In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium-low heat.  Add the leeks and sprinkle with salt.  Continue to cook and stir until the leeks are soft, approximately 15 mins.  Stir in the chicken broth and cook until half the broth is absorbed.

Place the leek mixture and broccoli in a food processor.  Add the cream and blend until smooth.

Add the pureed mixture back into the skillet, season with nutmeg, cayenne pepper and additional salt if needed.

The spices!

Add the cheese and cook on low heat, stirring constantly until the cheese is melted and the soup is heated through.

Since the heat was so low I decided to let the Assistant Chef have a hand at "cooking for real".  She was quite happy about this!

Assistant Chef helping to make the Grilled Cheese Sandwiches.

Pureed Broccoli-Leek Soup with Grilled Cheese Sandwich.  I used one piece of American Cheese and one slice of Gruyere Cheese so I would feel more grown up and gourmet.  Slices of toasted baguette or other bread would be nice too!

Pureed Broccoli-Leek soup.

Recipe for: Pureed Broccoli-Leek Soup

http://www.momsaysjustonebite.blogspot.com/
To prepare: Leeks must be cleaned very well so you don’t have sandy soup!  Recipe yields 4 servings.

Ingredients

Directions

1 large head of broccoli, cut into small florets. 4 tbsp. butter 4 leeks, white parts only, cleaned well and thinly sliced. Salt ½ c. chicken broth ½ c. heavy cream ¼ tsp. ground nutmeg Pinch of cayenne pepper 4 oz. (about 1 cup) Gruyere cheese, grated

1.       Steam the broccoli florets until soft.  Drain and set aside. 2.       In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium-low heat.  Add the sliced leeks, sprinkle with salt and cook, stirring often, until soft.  This should take about 15 mins.  3.       Stir in the chicken broth and cook until half the liquid is absorbed. 4.       Add the leek mixture, broccoli and cream to a food processor and blend well. 5.       Transfer pureed mixture back to the skillet and season with the nutmeg, cayenne pepper and additional salt if needed. 6.       Add the cheese and continue to cook over low heat until cheese is melted and soup is heated through.